And All Her Paths Are Peace
by LizzeXX
Summary: Steve/OC - When America demands proof of Dr. Erskine's success first, Agent Carter gains a way to save her best mate's life. When Steve Rogers is selected for Project Rebirth by Olivia Williams, the result of America's demand, they end up in a position to work together to end the war...and set off some fireworks between themselves as well. First in the Medic Examinations series.
1. Project Rebirth: Phase One

A/N: Hello, hello! :) This is my first Captain America series and my first attempt at a Steve/OC! So welcome to And All Her Paths Were Peace, the first in the Medic Examinations series :) As fair warning, this will NOT be a Steve/Peggy story as much as I liked them in the movie. I've written a few other stories for Doctor Who, Supernatural, Sherlock, Star Trek and Star Wars, Thor, Merlin, OUAT, Big Bang Theory, and Lord of the Rings. But this series will be my attempt to incorporate an original character into Captain America's universe. This story will be based around the First Avenger movie and will be intermingled with some original scenes (like the first chapter) but should follow the movie, from Steve and the OC's POV :) This story will be about 10 chapters long and, as best I can manage, updated daily :)

For a reference, I picture the OC, Olivia Williams, to look something like Alison Lohman but there'll be more of a physical description of her as the story goes :)

I hope you enjoy :)

~8~ is a scene break

Disclaimer...I don't own Captain America or things from the movie/comic, just my OC and some original aspects...or else Chris Evans would have been given another round of contract movies ;)

~8~

Project Rebirth: Phase One

The sounds of giggling filled the air as two little girls ran down a path. It had been hours and hours that they'd been held in the prison that was school. The wardens were strict, the punishments cruel, and the food disgusting gruel. But they had served their time and they were fleeing, having made a daring escape. They dove behind bushes, zigzagged across the paths, ducked behind small walls when an adult wandered past. They just had to make it to their home base and they'd be safe. They'd meet up with their accomplice and continue on with their life of adventure.

One little girl, with brown hair and eyes, made an odd hand gesture to her partner in crime, a clear indication that she was going to run ahead, take the lead and act as scout. The other girl, with pale red hair that was more blonde than red, and equally brown eyes, nodded excitedly, breathing hard from the excitement and danger of it all.

The first girl giggled and dashed ahead, running much faster than they had been, the other girl following. She crouched low to the ground as she ran, looking around, her senses sharp, the home base in sight. Just a few more feet to freedom and…

The illusion, the make believe world they'd created, shattered when a thump and a gasp sounded behind her. The first girl spun around and her eyes widened.

"Liv!" she cried, rushing back to her friend who had fallen to her knees, tears in her eyes as she panted. But not in a good way. It looked like she _couldn't breathe_ , she was gripping at her chest, and looked so scared, "Livvy, what's wrong?" she quickly crouched before the girl, looking for some sort of injury, "Livia?"

She didn't know what was going on with her new friend. She'd only just met Olivia Williams in school earlier, had immediately struck up such an easy friendship that she'd asked the girl to come to a playdate at her house. The girl was the only one in their class who seemed to share her sense of adventure but now something was happening to her and she didn't understand it…

"Can't…" the girl, Olivia, gasped, her breath shallow, "Breathe…P…Peggy…I can't…"

Young Peggy Carter shook her head, "I'll get help, I'll…"

"No," Olivia reached out to grab her hand, frantic, "Don't…leave…"

Peggy looked around, feeling tears in her eyes, not sure what to do, how to get help without leaving her friend behind. So she did the only thing she could think to do, "MOTHER! HELP! MICHAEL!"

She kept screaming, as loud as she could, her house so close that someone _had_ to hear her, and they did. For not even a moment later, her brother Michael had run out of the house to see why she was screaming, took one look, and dashed in to get their mother…

"P…Peg…" Olivia tried to talk again, but Peggy shook her head, gripping the girl's hand, her lips were turning blue, her skin too pale…

She screamed when the girl's eyes rolled back and she collapsed.

~8~

Olivia's eyes fluttered open at the sound of a knock on the door. She squinted a bit at the sunlight streaming in through the windows of the stark white room, before she turned her head. She smiled at the sight of the young girl peeking in around the door, "Peggy!"

Peggy smiled and made her way in, pulling herself up to sit on the chair stationed next to Olivia's bed, "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she replied, pushing herself to sit up on the hospital bed, carefully adjusting the small tube under her nose to better rest over her ear, "I'm sorry I scared you."

"You've apologized a hundred times," Peggy rolled her eyes and smiled.

It had been a few days since her friend had collapsed. Her mother had explained that the girl had experienced something called dyspnea. It sounded scary to hear, but her mother explained it just meant her new friend wasn't able to breathe very well. It shouldn't have affected her as much as it had, so the doctors were going to do some tests to make sure it wasn't something else more serious. For now, all they knew was that there was something wrong with her lungs or her heart that made running the way they had dangerous for the girl. She'd run too far too fast and her lungs hadn't been able to keep up, which made it hard to breathe. It was very important that she be calm right now.

"I brought your school work," Peggy offered, pulling some books and papers from her pack, laughing when Olivia groaned.

"I can't wait to go back to school even if it's just so I don't have to do all the work now," Olivia muttered.

"I also brought a surprise," Peggy added, holding up the last book in her pack, "It's a gift," she held it out to Olivia to take.

"'Treasure Island,'" Olivia read the cover.

"It's from Michael and I. He said that, just because you can't go on adventures outside, doesn't mean we can't inside with that," she tapped the book.

Olivia smiled, gently touching the cover, "Can't I read it now?"

"School first, then adventure," Peggy countered, knowing her mother and Olivia's mother would be displeased if they came in from their talk in the hall to find Olivia not doing her work. And she didn't want to risk not being allowed to visit her friend.

"Can I at least start with Maths?"

Peggy grimaced but handed her that work first, "I don't know why you like it so much."

"It's simple," Olivia shrugged, "It's like a puzzle."

Peggy just shook her head at that, Maths was the worst!

Olivia's smile fell just a little as she looked at Peggy, "I'm sorry you're stuck in here with me instead of having adventures."

Peggy reached out to take her hand, "You're my very best friend. Friends don't abandon each other. Once you're better, we can have all the adventures we want."

~8~

If only the two little girls had known that that first trip to the Hospital wouldn't be the last, perhaps they would have drifted apart. But they were not just little girls, they were best mates and nothing, not even health, would tear them apart. Peggy Carter would not stand for that.

Olivia had grown quite used to waking up to the sound of knocking over the years, hardly ever squinted at the brightness of the Hospital rooms when she turned to offer a smile to the Carter standing in the doorway.

"Michael," she pushed herself up to sit, or tried to. Michael was at her side in an instant, helping her to sit up as she struggled. She let out a content sigh to be in a new position, murmuring, "Thank you," to him.

"Not a problem," he returned, dropping a kiss onto the top of her head, much like he did to Peggy when she was ill, "How are you feeling?"

The pneumonia had snuck up on her. The weather wasn't even what most thought conducive for a pneumonia, it was the middle of summer! But she had been out for hours in the rain and she had always been a sickly child, only growing more so as an adult. Even her best precautions hadn't been enough. She tried, all the time, to find ways to be better, to get stronger. But medications she took for one disorder ended up weakening her health other times. Sometimes the medicines caused other illnesses as side effects, others made her a little weaker in general. It felt, at times, like one wrong twist could throw out her back, one stumble break a bone. Rising too quickly from a chair or bed could make her so dizzy she couldn't focus for minutes on end. If it wasn't her breathing it was her heart, if it wasn't a pneumonia it was a vile stomach bug. Sometimes it seemed like she couldn't eat anything without feeling sick, the rationing with the war hadn't helped but she never complained and she always had a smile to offer the Carter siblings when she was with them or they came to visit.

"Always better," Olivia insisted.

Michael smiled down at her, if every soldier on the field had her unbreakable spirit, they would have won this war within the first few days. She was like a sister to him and while he hated to see her in hospital, he always felt relief each time he saw her still with them. He didn't get to visit her as much as he wanted, but if Peggy wasn't at work or with her fiancé, she was visiting Olivia or Olivia was visiting Peggy. Those days were the better for everyone, the days she wasn't wallowing away in the sanitary rooms of the Hospital.

"I'm not sure if Peggy's told you, but I wanted to come see you myself," he sat down in the chair next to her, "I've been deployed. I leave in just a few days."

Olivia's smile fell, reaching out her hand to take his, "I'll miss you, so very much."

"Hey now," he reached out his other hand to tap under her chin, "No tears for me," he teased, noting the wetness in her eyes, "I'll be _fine_. It's you and Peg I worry for more."

"You know I'll look after Peggy," Olivia reminded him, "Just like she will me. We'll be alright till you can come home."

"I'm glad you'll be looking after her," he told her, "I trust YOU."

Olivia's small smile returned, though one of understanding, "You still don't like Wells?"

"I haven't had the pleasure to meet him," Michael remarked, "I can't say whether I like him or not. I trust Peggy's judgement..."

"But…"

"But I also trust yours," he gave her a look.

"I didn't mean to sway you with my concerns," she began. She had been in touch with Michael, always, whether through letters or when he would be able to visit, not as much as she was with Peggy but enough. He had asked a time or two what her thoughts were on this man his sister had agreed to marry.

She had been honest, it was something she had always learned to be. Especially with the way her body seemed to revolt against her, she needed to be honest with the doctors who took care of her in order to make sure she was getting the right treatment. It had carried over into all areas of her life, and she knew Michael appreciated her honesty in this subject. Peggy was _so_ important to the both of them. She had only met Wells a few times, she could count on one hand just how many. And each time he never seemed… _right_ …for someone as incredible as Peggy. And she wasn't saying it just because the man seemed to think his fiance's best mate was an incubator of the plague and refused to be in the same room as her for more than five minutes, let alone touch her to shake her hand in greeting. He just…she KNEW her friend and Wells was _not_ the sort of man she pictured being Peggy's husband.

"You've always been a great judge of character," Michael argued, "I trust your thoughts on him and I doubt I'll meet him and have a different opinion than you."

Olivia sighed a bit, "Just…be cautious of how you speak to her about him. Peggy's quite touchy on the subject."

He nodded, "Speaking of touchy subjects," he leaned forward more, squeezing her hand and resting his other on top of hers, "There's something I wanted to talk to you about…"

"Go on?" Olivia gave a soft chuckle when he didn't continue to speak.

"There's a position open, for a field agent," he began, "I…I'd like to recommend Peggy for it."

Olivia's eyes widened, "Michael, that's incredible! She would be an _amazing_ agent!"

His lips twitched in a smile, "I haven't recommended her yet, I wanted to talk to you about it first."

"What for?"

"If I do this, if she gets the position…she'll be out in the field," he replied.

Olivia squeezed his hand, "That IS what I'd think a FIELD agent does."

"No, Liv…" he sighed, "She won't be here," he explained, "She won't be sitting in an office, working on those codes you got her into…" Olivia had always had an ease with math and puzzles, after so many years with the girls working on both together, it had rubbed off on Peggy and she was one of the best codebreakers in her field, "She'd be out there, in the line of danger…"

"Having adventures," Olivia murmured, "Like she always dreamed."

"And not _here_ ," Michael repeated, "She wouldn't be able to visit as often as she has. She wouldn't be…" he pulled back slightly and rubbed his forehead, "I feel like if I make this recommendation, I'll be taking your best mate away from you…"

Olivia didn't have much by way of family. A mother, father died a heart attack years ago, and she had the Carters who were as good as family. Peggy was like a sister to the girl and her only friend. She got so few visitors when she was in Hospital that Peggy was her only constant.

Olivia was silent a moment before shaking her head, "I wouldn't be much a best mate if I held her back from this," she replied wisely, "This has always been her _dream_ , it's only right that I encourage her to live it."

Michael let out a little breath at that, shaking his head as well, his own eyes wet now, "You deserve a better life than the one you've been given," he told her, earnest. Here was a girl who was so selfless, who cared so much about her friend and her happiness, that she would embrace loneliness just to see her friend live her dream.

"We have no say in the life we're given," she countered, "All we can do is make the best of the one we have. Life is too short to have regrets, and I would regret it, _so much_ , if I was the thing that held Peggy back from the life she's always wanted."

Michael nodded at that, the two of them falling silent, though he never let go of her hand.

~8~

Oliva sighed as she sat on the sofa, in the sitting room of her mother's home. She had glasses perched on the tip of her nose, looking down at some mathematics that Michael had sent to her. Well, not Michael. He had not just recommended Peggy for field work, but he had pulled a string or two to allow her to help with the war effort. With her health, there wasn't much she could do. She couldn't work in a factory, and she couldn't miss that much work in an office. But there was a mathematics division, mostly calculating expenses or ranges for weapons, and he'd put in a good word for her there. They sent her some math to do, which was easy enough when alone in a hospital with nothing to distract her other than the medical books she was always reading.

She could still help, even if she couldn't contribute much.

She looked up when she heard the front door open but not her mother call out for her, "Mum?" she yelled.

A moment later it was not her mother who appeared in the archway to the sitting room, but Peggy.

Olivia was on her feet in an instant at the state her friend was in. She rushed to Peggy's side, winding an arm around her waist to lead her to the sofa. Peggy was a mess. Her typically perfectly coiffed hair was flying everywhere, her eyes red, her nose stuffed, she was panting and sobbing. It immediately set Olivia on edge, Peggy was always so put together and strong and brave, to see her break like this…she was truly afraid for what had happened.

"Peggy, what is it?" she murmured, sitting beside the woman and hugging her tightly as she sobbed, "What's happened?"

The first thought in her mind was that it was Wells, that the man had called off the engagement. She hadn't been cleared by the doctors to attend Peggy's engagement party a short while ago, but from what Michael had told her before he'd left on his next assignment, it hadn't gone well when he'd talked to her about Wells. Had they had a fight? Had Wells been aware of Michael's disapproval and broken it off? Had...

Peggy could only shake her head and mutter a single word, "Michael."

Olivia inhaled sharply, not needing Peggy to say anything else to understand. The only thing that would send Peggy into this fit…was if Michael had perished in the war.

"Oh, Peggy," Olivia breathed, sniffling in deeply and trying to blink back her own tears as she pulled Peggy in tighter, " _I'm so sorry_ …"

The two women wouldn't move for quite a while, curled up on the sofa together as they cried in a shared pain of a brother lost.

~8~

If there was but one single good thing that had come from Michael's passing, it was an awakening in Peggy. Olivia knew, as hard as it was to lose him, his loss had helped Peggy find herself again and Michael would have wanted that. Michael had loved his sister, he had always wanted her to live the life that would bring her the most happiness and she had that now.

It was hard, one of the hardest things Olivia had ever had to do, to let her best friend actually _go_ , knowing she'd be placed into the line of fire. It was even harder to be unable to have any way to contact her. When they had been younger, they would come up with all sorts of hidden messages to each other, whether it was using numbers or symbols or random words. Perhaps it was why Peggy had been such a brilliant codebreaker, all her life had been in codes. As much as Olivia wanted to send her friend a similar message, encoded, just a hello…it was too dangerous.

And she never knew where Peggy was going, only that she was leaving with the promise to come back, to visit her first thing when she returned.

It always felt like her heart was breaking in her chest everyday that Peggy was away. The worry, the fear, the helplessness she felt. She had never hated the life she'd been given, trusting she'd been given such a one for a reason, but it was hard to keep that belief when Peggy was away, because she couldn't help her. She wasn't strong enough or well enough to do it.

And she worried endlessly.

She'd needed something to keep herself distracted over the years. Michael had passed away about two and a half years ago by this point, August of 1940, only weeks before Peggy was going to marry Wells. Peggy had accepted the field agent position shortly after, calling off the wedding too. And she'd done SO much to aid the war effort. But it was still a very long time without her best friend beside her, only catching glimpses of her before she was off on another assignment.

She'd wanted to help. In any way she could. If she couldn't be out in the field or in an office or a factory, she needed to do something more than crunch numbers. It had been fine to do when Peggy had worked in an office too, but now her best friend was out there in the thick of it and she needed to do MORE.

She'd started to help out more at the Hospital the last few years.

She was there so often anyway, it was almost poetic. She knew all the nurses, all the doctors, a good number of the patients. She read medical books, she even sat in and observed the other doctors and nurses on their rounds. They understood, better than anyone, what her health was like, what to expect from her. But they also appreciated all the help. With more and more medics needed for the war effort, anyone willing to help and train was welcome. And she was more than determined to do anything to help.

She had been where those patients were, she was still one of them at times. But at least she could do something with her time that helped other people on a more personal level. She enjoyed it too, she loved to help people, to make them feel better. And she liked to think she was able to make them smile just a bit, to forget their ailments and be able to smile, to find some sort of hope in this war. A kind presence, a gentle smile, and hand to hold, they could mean the world to people.

Right now she was sitting in what had come to be the children's wing. It had been a hard winter and a number of small children had fallen ill with the flu due to the rations. They'd all be located there, to that wing, out of the way of the adults with more serious harms, but still where they could be cared for. She had a book on her lap, reading to them, though she kept a firm grip on the metal pole beside her where her medicine bag was fixed.

She glanced up a moment, hearing a noise, and nearly jumped to her feet to rush over when she saw Peggy leaning in the doorway with a wide smile, back from her latest assignment. But the children were so eagerly listening to the story that she just _had_ to finish for them. Peggy seemed to sense her distress and gestured to the book with a nod, silently telling her it was alright.

She hoped the children didn't notice how she sped up her reading.

She usually would stay and talk with the children after she finished, see how they were doing, but they all seemed to understand that the woman waiting in the door was the friend she often talked about and let her leave with little fuss.

"Peggy!" Olivia greeted, hugging her friend tightly as they stepped into the hall, "Oh, I missed you." She didn't have to add in how worried she'd been. Peggy had promised to be back for the new year, year 1943 had begun with no sign of her best mate. Which did not help her already frazzled nerves.

"What's this all about?" Peggy asked, nodding to the IV rack while wiping below her teary eyes, Olivia doing the same beneath her own.

"Oh, um," Olivia fidgeted, "Caught a bit of a cold…"

"If by 'a bit of a cold' you mean Bronchiolitis," a passing voice spoke, a nurse coming in to check on the little ones, "Then yes, it was a 'bit of a cold.'"

"Liv!" Peggy gave her a disapproving look, not just for lying but for falling ill again.

"We told her to stay inside when the latest wave of children arrived, but she insisted on assisting us."

"They were frightened," Olivia defended as the nurse disappeared into the room, "I just wanted to help them."

"I hate it when you don't put your health first," Peggy murmured.

"Do you do that often?" a voice spoke, thick with a German accent.

Olivia turned to see a man standing a few feet away with a folder in his arms. He was tall, with a slightly balding head, grey hair around the side of his head, glasses, and a small beard, "Oh, hello," she spoke, startled but not too much. She had gotten a rather terrible ear infection about ten years ago that had damaged the hearing in her right ear, she was used to people sneaking up on her by now.

Peggy looked between them, "Dr. Erskine, this is Olivia Williams. Liv, this is Dr. Erskine."

"It's a pleasure," Olivia reached out a hand to shake his in greeting.

"Could we go back to your room?" Peggy asked her quietly, "There's something we need to talk to you about."

"Of course, I'm this way," Olivia turned to lead them towards her assigned room.

"Yes, thank you," Dr. Erskine smiled, "But I am quite curious about your remark, Ms. Carter."

Peggy sighed, "One time Liv ended up in Hospital because she was helping my brother look for a missing dog. We told her not to be out in that rain, but she insisted she help. Ended up with a pneumonia in the middle of summer," she gave Olivia a displeased look just at the memory. It was a rare thing to happen, but the doctors had agreed that a pneumonia in summer was actually quite possible.

"I just wanted to help," Olivia defended.

"And the children, just then?" Dr. Erskine glanced over his shoulder at the room down the hall.

"They're frightened and ill," Olivia remarked, "I've been there, I just want to help in any way I can."

"The other nurses mentioned you've been helping out around here," Peggy brought up.

Olivia shrugged, "The war falls to everyone to do their part. More medics on the field mean less staff here, I've always wanted to be a nurse."

Peggy nodded, that was something Olivia _had_ always wanted. She had been so young when her health issues started, and the nurses were always so kind. They would often let her sneak in to visit her friend, knowing how important their friendship was to each other. Olivia had firmly declared that she'd love to grow up and be a nurse one day, to help other people who were ill. It was just…her illnesses never seemed to go away to give her the chance to gain the official schooling she'd need for such a profession. She had read so many medical books over her life that Peggy was sure she could give even the most educated physician a run for his money, but it meant little without the official degree.

"Here we are," Olivia smiled as they reached the room.

"Ah, Ms. Carter, I must ask that you remain here," Dr. Erskine looked to Peggy with regret.

"Of course," Peggy gestured for them to head in, giving Olivia an encouraging nod as the girl gave her a confused look.

Olivia led Dr. Erskine into the room, moving over to sit on the edge of her bed, facing the chair that always seemed to be in there. Dr. Erskine made his way over to it without a word, sitting down and folding his hands on top of the folder he placed on his lap.

"Ms. Carter has told me much about you, my dear," the man smiled easily, setting Olivia at ease with the friendly tone he had.

"I'm afraid I can't say the same," Olivia offered in apology, but the man chuckled lightly and waved it off. It was a very good thing to hear that an agent had kept their silence, she imagined.

"I am Dr. Abraham Erskine and I represent the Strategic Scientific Reserve," he began, "What we speak about in this room must not leave it, you understand?"

"Of course," Olivia nodded.

He smiled at her, "Ms. Carter saved my life a little more than two years ago, she and her organization have given me sanctuary in America, to continue my scientific work. We are trying to find a way to end this war and I believe I have found that way."

"That's wonderful," Olivia smiled, before blinking and shaking her head a moment later, "But what does that have to do with me?"

"As I've said, Ms. Carter has spoken so highly of you, so much so that I have come to believe you may be the right person to help us proceed."

Olivia's smile began to fade, "I'm not sure how much help I can be," she gestured around, "But I will always try to help where I can."

"You have not had an easy life," the man remarked sadly, observing her.

"Easy or not it is the only life I had," Olivia shrugged, "I hope that I have made it a good one."

Dr. Erskine was quiet a long while, still looking at her, "You do not believe you will live much longer, do you?" he asked her quietly, hearing a note of finality in her tone, of acceptance.

She looked down at that, "I will fight as long as I can," she looked back up at him, "It will be my body that stops before my spirit does."

"And _that_ is what I'm looking for, qualities that go beyond the physical. I have only just met you, but I have seen and heard enough to know that you have a good heart and a deep well of compassion. You are selfless but strong. I need to know, though, if you wish to fight in this war."

Olivia was quiet, thinking about it for it seemed like too important a question to not give true thought to, "I can barely stomach it when Peggy goes out on her assignments," she began slowly, "I look at those children and I wonder if their parents are out there, fighting, if they have a brother or a sister on the lines. I visit the soldiers and help tend their wounds and it breaks my heart to know they were hurt in such a brutal fight. If there was _anything_ I could do to stop it happening, I would."

Dr. Erskine inhaled slowly at that, blinking back his tears at the wetness he saw in her eyes, the words she spoke, how truly and genuinely she cared for others fighting. And he nodded to himself, this was _exactly_ the sort of person for his experiment, someone who CARED.

"Do you want to kill the Nazis?" he asked, just needing to be sure, "The ones who have taken so much from those around you?"

Olivia didn't need to think on her response, "No," she answered, "Killing doesn't evoke change, it just leaves a void to be filled. It seems a sad truth that people will always fight, but they don't have to die, innocent people don't have to be hurt. So many men were left in the fields until the battle was over. Some, their injuries could have been less if they had gotten help in time. I don't want to kill anyone, I want to protect them from being killed."

Dr. Erskine smiled at her response. The agreement with his sponsors was to use his serum to create the perfect soldier. But the agreement had never said that the subject had to agree to be a soldier on the front line, with a gun in their hand and a mission to kill Nazis. The girl had a point, so many soldiers could be saved if they had someone to bring them back to the infirmary tents or tend to them on the field.

If his experiment worked, she would be stronger, strong enough of body and health to carry a soldier three times her size. She would have more endurance, faster healing, be quicker of speed. She had already trained somewhat to treat wounds and in medicine, she could be useful in the war for the wounded and the spirit of the countries, allowing soldiers to come back to their families alive.

He reached up and pulled his glasses off, looking at her, serious, "My work at the SSR has allowed me time to prepare a formula, a serum, that can amplify everything inside a test subject. Good becomes great, bad becomes worse…"

"My health…" Olivia began.

"Oh no, no, no," he chuckled lightly, "It strengthens you in that manner," he explained, "Health, speed, stamina, endurance. No more illness, no more pain, no more weakness. I am looking for a subject who has experienced all of that, because they know the value of being strong and the importance of compassion. Someone who has experienced pain the way you have understands it, has no wish to inflict it needlessly, and desires to stop others feeling it. A good person. And I think that is you. The only question now…is if you will accept."

~8~

Dr. Erskine beamed ear to ear as he observed the spectacle in front of him with a large breath of relief.

"Phase One," he spoke into a recording, "Complete."

A/N: I am not, at all, trying to take away how momentous an event it was for Steve to become Captain America by having the OC go through the process first. There is still going to be tremendous hoopla surrounding Steve's transformation. For this story though, I felt like, knowing how America can seem sometimes, that it _could_ have been believable that they would go 'prove it works' first before dishing out the resources and money and support to launch Erskine's experiment on Steve. And, with the other countries having been fighting the war a little longer before America joined, the UK might have been more open to getting their super soldier and getting it first. Hence, Olivia.

There is still going to be the question of if it will affect gender differently, if different medical concerns can affect its success, and many other factors that will make Steve's phase just as important and concerning. This chapter is more to introduce Olivia, what she's like as a person, her friendships, and why she might have been selected.

When it comes to her, I wanted to focus on another area of the army beyond the frontmen and soldiers, the medics. I read somewhere once that, round about, for every 200-250 soldiers, there were only 30 medics and it made me consider what Captain America would have been like if he'd not been a soldier but a medic? And from that an OC started waving at me going 'I'd like to be a medic!' and ta da! So we're not going to see the OC upstaging Steve or being a super soldier to match him blow for blow or stealing moments from him. She's going to have her own set of skills that she utilizes in different ways than he does his. But she will have life experiences that shaped her into the person she was, much like Steve, and will be someone he can relate to and confide in, someone who has gone through it similarly to himself and can understand him.

It broke my heart to think about Steve being alone the way he was, the only one of his kind...and we saw how well that worked with Doctor Who, right? 6 published Time Ladies to pair with him and 3 more to come lol. So of course Steve had to get a girl after his own heart too ;)

I'm also going to be trying something with the titles, to relate them to the stories but also some patriotic phrases or anthems from the Allied countries ;) I felt this one worked for Olivia, it sort of sums her up :)

As for the title of the series itself, the Medic Examinations, I feel like it's a good play on words. As you can probably tell, Olivia is going to focus more on the 'medic' side of things in war. So it's sort of like a mix between a medical examination (both on the field and off), but also a medical exam (the the sort to become a medical professional), and an examination of the medic in question (what is Olivia like as a superhero). I hope you like it :)

And, just to end, mostly putting this here because I've promised my sister I would actually tell people it. I made a page called ko-fi, where people can show support of a person by contributing a 'cup of coffee' to them. It's not a real cup of coffee, it's a donation that is roughly the cost of a cup of coffee, or about 3 dollars. The link is up on my profile or on my tumblr's LINKS page if anyone is interested. There's no obligation, requirement, or commitment, it just sort of feels to me like a little 'let's talk about your work over a cup of coffee' ;)

Timeline for this chapter:  
Peggy and Olivia meet/Olivia gets hospitalized - September 1927.  
Michael and Olivia talk in the hospital - July 19th 1940 (one site said the engagement party was July 20th 1940)  
Michael is killed in the war/Peggy becomes a field agent - around August 7th 1940 (one site said it was August 1940 and Peggy got notice on the 7th)  
Peggy rescues Dr. Erskine - November 13, 1940  
Olivia meets Dr. Erskine/goes through with Phase One - Late January 1943, early February 1943


	2. Joining the Troops

Joining the Troops

Steve Rogers had never had a very easy life.

It seemed like, from the moment he was born, he just kept having different complications, whether it was in his health or his physical abilities. But despite all that he _never_ let it keep him down, he always tried to be the best he could be and be there to help out anyone he could. Not many people felt he had what it took, as many, especially the bigger, stronger boys, used to beat him up as a child. He would always fight back, it wasn't in him to just back down. If no one was going to stand up for the little guy at least the little guy could stand up for himself. He wasn't always alone though, he had his best friend Bucky Barnes, James Buchanan Barnes, who was always there and always had his back. They led a simple life up until the War began. Seeing everything going on in the other countries, there was no way Steve could let himself just sit there and do nothing. So many men were going overseas and fighting, putting their lives on the line and risking everything to stop the enemy advancing. He knew enough about the war to know that the Nazis, the Nazi party and Hitler, were the true enemy and that only by coming together and standing up would the Allies be able to win.

He wanted to join them.

He always wanted to be the sort of person who could stand up and stop things happening and this, he thought, would be his chance. No one wanted to give him one though. He had tried to sign up in different enlistment locations, even going so far as to forge his information, just to try and get that chance. The doctors there who were meant to examine the possible soldiers, however, all always said he wasn't good enough. He knew he had a few health concerns when it came to what the Army was looking for. He had astigmatism, which meant his eyesight wasn't the greatest. He had asthma, so his breathing could be difficult sometimes without the proper treatment. He had an irregular heartbeat ever since he was a child and had gotten ill. Stomach ulcers, nervous disorders, fatigue, anemia...he wasn't the healthiest. He got that. He really did. He knew there were many things that could hold him back. Even things that had nothing to do with him personally could affect his chances. His mother had been a diabetic, he had a higher risk for it, and she'd passed of tuberculosis, which, as far as the recruiters were concerned, he might be carrying as a result.

He had always been a weak child, weak of body at least but never of heart and never of mind and he thought that would be enough. That was what a soldier should be. It shouldn't matter what they were like physically as long as they had the heart and the spirit and the drive to was right and to fight. And he had a fighting spirit in spades. He just wanted the chance to _prove it_.

His best friend, Bucky, had enlisted into the army. He was going to be deployed in just a few days. That's what they were doing right now, celebrating his last day before he would be going to war, a sendoff of sorts. Bucky had insisted that they go to some expo for 'future tech' and he'd gone, even though he wasn't truly in a celebratory mood. Not only would his best friend be leaving, but he'd been turned down for yet another enlistment.

Bucky would be able to fight overseas against the enemies, against the Nazis, while HE would be stuck there, in the States, doing everything he could for the war effort but not being able to lay down his life for it. As he stood before his next enlistment site, he couldn't help but think the way he looked right now would do him no favors in trying to get into the army.

Having failed at another enlistment site only hours ago, he'd gone to the cinema to watch a movie. An advertisement had been playing before the movie began of the war effort, of men signing up to enlist, of what other people could do at home to support it. He had tremendous respect for everyone in the advertisement and everyone doing their part for the war effort, but not everyone felt the same way. Some jerk in the back row decided the movie was more important than learning about the war and what was going on. He stood up to the bully and told the man to show some respect. The man wasn't pleased with that and had dragged him into the back alley behind the movie theater and had started to pummel him. He did his best to defend himself, trying to use little tricks Bucky had shown him, even grabbed a garbage can lid as a shield. But the man was bigger and stronger than he was and, with every blow, he fell to the ground. He always got back up but the man had gotten a few good punches in and he was sure his face looked a mess.

What would it say to the enlistment officer if he went in now looking like he did? Would they find him to be strong, that he had taken such a beating and yet kept fighting? Or would they see him as some weak individual who couldn't even defend himself and shouldn't be seen as a soldier?

He could only hope it would be the first.

He stood before a mirror that was carved into the face of a poster of a soldier attached just within an enlistment center but he wasn't even tall enough to reach the mirror's chin. He would never be able to see himself as a soldier in that advertisement.

"You're kind of missing the point of a double date," a voice spoke behind him, "We're taking the girls dancing."

Steve jumped, turning around to see that Bucky had found him and had joined him, the man all decked out in his uniform. He shook his head, waving his hand to usher Bucky away, "You go ahead. I'll catch up with you."

Bucky could only look at him for a moment, a frown on his face before he realized what building Steve had entered, "You're really gonna do this again?"

Steve sighed, "Well, it's a fair. I'm gonna try my luck."

"As who?" he scoffed, "Steve from Ohio? They'll catch you. Or worse, they'll actually take you."

"Look, I know you don't think I can do this..."

"This isn't a back alley, Steve," Bucky cut in, serious now, all joking and smiling forgotten, "It's _war_!"

"I _know_ it's a war. You don't have to tell me."

"Why are you so keen to fight? There are so many important jobs..."

"What am I gonna do?" Steve countered, "Collect scrap metal?"

"Yes!"

"…in my little red wagon?" Steve continued, making a point to spread his arms, a gesture to draw attention to his lacking physique. He wouldn't be able to carry much scrap metal himself, but he probably wouldn't be able to pull enough, even on a wagon, unless it was a small one.

"Why not?" Bucky challenged.

"I'm not gonna sit in a factory, Bucky."

"I don't…"

"Bucky, come on!" Steve nearly snapped, "There are men laying down _their lives_. I got no right to do any less than them. That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me."

And it wasn't, it wasn't about him. It was about all the people of the country doing their part to stop this enemy from hurting more people. He just wanted his chance to help. He saw men enlist everyday who went to war, thinking it would be some great achievement, some new adventure, a way to make the women swoon. That wasn't what the war was about. War, fighting, it was all about keeping people safe and he just wanted that opportunity. He had spent his entire life being beaten down by bullies who thought they were better than everyone else. That's what he saw in the Nazi party, a bunch of bullies who wanted to hurt other people because they thought they were the best, and _that wasn't right_.

"Right," Bucky muttered, not sounding like he believed Steve at all, "Cause you got nothing to prove."

"Hey, Sarge!" one of the girls he'd brought as dates called out, "Are we going dancing?"

Bucky turned around to call back, "Yes, we are," before he faced Steve once more, speaking a little quieter, reaching out to put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Don't do anything stupid until I get back."

"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you."

Bucky let out a short laugh and a weak smile at that, "You're a punk."

Steve gave a sad smile when Bucky stepped forward and pulled him into a tight hug. There was something different in this hug, Steve could feel it, because he knew this was a hug goodbye. He didn't know if he would ever see his best friend again or if the next time he would see Bucky would be as a hero, an injured soldier, or in a box to be buried. He hoped it would be as a hero, alive and whole and well.

"Jerk," he muttered quietly to Bucky, "Be careful. Don't win the war till I get there!"

Bucky gave him a small salute as he began to step back and head towards the girls once more. He spun on his heels, heading to the two women waiting for him, "Come on girls. They're playing our song."

Steve shook his head as he watched the man disappear, before glancing at the hall that would lead to the main enlistment center and heading down it, not noticing another man in glasses who had overheard the conversation while he'd been observing the photos of the war on the wall...

~8~

Steve stood in the middle of the medical examination room, his shoes off, his shirt off, waiting and looking around as the nurses and a few other doctors wandered past. They were all so young, but he understood why. The war effort took a lot out of everyone, they couldn't afford to have fresh new doctors or nurses out on the field, not when so many lives were at stake. They wanted experienced doctors, ones who knew what they were doing, they wanted nurses who were competent and strong of stomach, who had seen enough blood in their lifetime to not be squeamish at it.

Right now he could see a nurse whispering something to a doctor on the other side of the room. The doctor looked up at him and he knew, just by the way the guy was staring at him, that something was going on.

He frowned as he watched the young doctor stand up and call out, "Wait here."

"Is there a problem?" he couldn't help how his voice cracked slightly at his question.

The doctor offered nothing else beyond a, "Just wait here."

The nurse, at least, tried to offer him a smile, but Steve could see that it was tense, before she left the room with the doctor. His nerves didn't fare any better as he was left alone in the room with nothing but the signs on the wall for company. He couldn't help but notice a sign right in front of him that warned against lying on the enlistment forms. That was the only thing he could think of for why they would have departed so quickly, they must have realized he had forged his latest forms or that he had applied somewhere else.

Could they even do that?

He didn't think the enlistment sites spoke to each other or communicated that in-depth that they would know to be on the lookout for someone like him, trying to forge his way into the army. But what else could it be?

He looks around quickly, noting where his shoes were and his shirt and started to get ready, hoping he could sneak out before any of them came back with the authorities.

He had just managed to get his shoes on and grab his shirt when the door opened and another official walked in. He couldn't help but feel nervous as he stared at the man, who looked very grim and very serious, staring him down. But a moment later another doctor stepped in behind the man, who only gave Steve one more look before he departed, leaving just the doctor and Steve. The man he was left with was unlike the doctor from before. He was taller, he was older, he was wearing glasses with a trimmed beard, though he was balding on the top of his head. The man seemed a much more kind as well, offering him a smile when he saw Steve standing there, tense and nervous, his shirt gripped tightly in his hands. Despite the offered smile, Steve couldn't help but be a little worried when he saw the authoritative way the man held himself.

"So, you want to go overseas. Kill some Nazis?"

Steve could only blink at the question given to him, "Excuse me?"

"Dr. Abraham Erskine," the man introduced himself, stepping over to shake Steve's hand, but otherwise ignoring Steve's reaction to his words, "I represent the Strategic Scientific Reserve."

"Steve Rogers."

Steve stood very tensely and at attention as he watched the doctor start to look through the file he held in his hand. He could tell that it must be the file that the doctor and the nurse had examined. But if it was...then the doctor clearly knew that he had forged his papers. So why had he not been arrested by the other official who had let the doctor in? Why had the doctor sent the official away?

He shook his head, trying to put his mind towards anything else. What was going to happen next would happen, whether he was arrested or not, it wouldn't do to worry now. With that thought pushed away, another one struck him. He eyed the man a little curiously, noting that he had an odd accent which wasn't normal to New York, "Where are you from?"

"Queens," the man answered easily, "73rd Street and Utopia Parkway. Before that, Germany," he glanced at Steve, "This troubles you?"

Steve shook his head, "No."

The doctor nodded, turning his attention back to Steve's file, flipping through it and not looking much at Steve as he kept reading up on everything else. The man smiled a moment later as he finally seemed to finish and glanced at Steve, asking, "Where are YOU from Mr. Rogers? Hmm? Is it New Haven? Or Paramus? Five exams in five different cities..."

"...that might not be the right file?" Steve offered, quickly enough where it was a decent response but not quickly enough to be suspicious.

The doctor smiled more, the boy was clever, "No," he closed the file, tucking it under his arm, "It's not the exams I'm interested in. It's the five tries. But you didn't answer my question. Do you want to kill Nazis?"

Steve eyed him cautiously, "Is this a test?"

"Yes," the doctor replied easily.

Steve was silent a moment, weighing his response, before stating, "I don't wanna kill anyone. I don't like bullies. I don't care where they're from."

The doctor gave him a soft smile as he considered Steve's answer, nodding to himself, looking almost wistful, deep in thought, as though he had heard something similar a short while ago. The way he looked at Steve, the man could almost have guessed he was looking at someone else, lost in thought or memory, before he shook his head and focused back on the present, "Well, there are already so many big men fighting this war. Maybe what we need now is the little guy, huh? I can offer you a chance," the doctor gestured for Steve to put on his shirt once more, waving a hand towards the door as he led Steve out of the room, "Only _a chance_ ," he emphasized.

This time Steve didn't hesitate, "I'll take it."

The doctor nodded, seeming pleased, "Good. So where is the little guy from, actually?"

"Brooklyn," Steve answered still more readily, seeing he wasn't in trouble now.

The doctor nodded to himself and opened up Steve's folder one more time, stamping down on the form the boy had just filled out, and handing it back to him, "Congratulations, soldier."

Steve could only open up the file as the doctor departed and stare at the fact that he had been _accepted_ into the army.

Finally, after so many attempts, he was going to be a soldier.

~8~

Olivia Williams stood in front of a mirror, a small frown on her face as she struggled with trying to get the tie around her neck done correctly. She couldn't help but fidget in place as she worked on the tie, looking around, not quite sure what to do and feeling very out of place. She wasn't used to the clothing she was wearing. She wasn't even used to seeing herself in the mirror yet. She looked so different than what she was used to, the person in the mirror wasn't her, it looked like someone else. But she knew, realistically, that it very much _was_ her staring back in the reflection.

It would just take some time to get used to the woman looking back at her.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone calling out behind her, "Liv, are you in here?!"

"Yes, yes, I'm here!" she shouted through the door, wincing a bit as it opened to reveal her best friend, "Sorry! I know you were waiting for me, I just couldn't seem to get this tie to work."

Peggy Carter smiled gently at her friend and stepped inside the small lavatory, moving to stand before Olivia, examining the mess she'd made of the tie. She shook her head fondly, reaching out to help her, "Here, let me," she offered.

"Thank you. I'm just not used to tying these things yet."

Peggy gave a soft laugh, "Yes, I know," she answered, there hadn't been much need for formal ties in the hospital, and Michael was the only constant man in Olivia's life and he already knew how to do his own tie up, "But it is part of the uniform and you deserve to wear it."

"I don't really feel like I deserve anything," Olivia admitted quietly.

And it was true, she had spent so much of her time being sick or being weak or being in the hospital that, to be standing there, as strong and healthy as she felt, was unnerving. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been able to take a full, deep breath without coughing or feeling like it wasn't enough. Even that though could set her thoughts down a solemn path. She couldn't help but think there would be more people out there who better deserved the chance she had been given, a soldier or a fighter. Every time she looked down at herself or went through the testing that the government had organised for her after her procedure, she couldn't help but think it had been wasted on her.

She wasn't a soldier, she didn't want to fight anyone or kill anyone, she just wanted to help.

It seemed like her country was in agreement though. She was to be a medic, they agreed on that much. Though she was sure Dr. Erskine had a hand in getting them to allow her that position instead of a true soldier. She was supposed to go into the field and help the injured. It was just as important to morale, they'd said, to know that their soldiers were being cared for just as much as it was important to have someone fighting with them. But she hadn't even _seen_ the front lines, she hadn't seen any action at all. Instead she was shuffled from place to place throughout her country, giving speeches and interviews, trying to bolster the war effort. If it hadn't been for Dr. Erskine, she was sure she would still be there doing that right now. But he wanted her help.

It was time for Phase Two of his experiment, of Project Rebirth. There was no one better, according to the doctor, to help him select the next test subject than his first test subject.

"You deserve everything," Peggy insisted, pulling her from her thoughts.

Olivia shook her head slightly, "You're only saying that because I'm your best mate."

This time Peggy shook her head, "I'm saying that because I know best," she added a playful lifting of her chin and sticking her nose in the air for affect.

Olivia had to smile at the action, even if it was a small one, "I just think there would have been a better person for this than me, like _you_." If she had known exactly how many resources were going to be spent on Dr. Erskine's project, she would have insisted it go to someone better suited than her. She felt like she'd stolen the opportunity from someone else, someone like Peggy.

"I wouldn't have been selected anyway," Peggy insisted, "Dr. Erskine was very clear about the requirements for his experiment. The effects he wanted to observe when the test was done. I didn't meet any of his criteria."

"He wanted _good people_. You are the best person I have ever known, Peggy."

Peggy smiled at her friend, moving her hands from the completed tie to rest on Olivia's shoulders. She gave her a single pat before she moved her hands down to take Olivia's in her own, "The point of his experiment was to show how well the serum worked," Peggy reminded her, "He needed to show the effects it would have on the body by taking the weakest of specimens and turning them into the best. Not that you were _ever_ weak, Liv, but medically speaking..."

"Yes, yes, I know, I was never in the best of health."

"I'm just very relieved that it worked," Peggy remarked, moving to put a strand of Olivia's hair behind her ear to fix it, "And now we're moving on to Phase Two, the new recruits come in today. And I heard Dr. Erskine feels he may have found the next subject. He wants your help to determine whether he would be a good one."

"Wouldn't _you_ have been a better person to go to for that?" Olivia asked with a small frown, "After all, you were the one who suggested me, and Dr. Erskine agreed. Even with my lack of experience in the field and my reluctance to kill anyone I might come in combat with."

"Well, in that case, it takes one to know one," Peggy teased, "You have always been a great judge of character, Liv."

Olivia's small smile turned somewhat sad at those words. Drawing Peggy's attention to it.

"What?"

"It's nothing," Olivia said, shaking her head a bit, "It's just...that was something Michael said to me one of the last times we spoke. He said that I was always a good judge of character. When it came to Wells..."

Peggy took a deep breath at the mention of her brother and her ex-fiance, but nodded her head, "He was right. If I had just listened to you both..."

"It _wasn't_ your fault," Olivia insisted, squeezing Peggy's hands, "Michael loved you _so much_ , Peggy. He would never want you to feel the way you do."

She knew Peggy had a lot of sorrow in her when she thought of her brother, and how they last parted. Michael had seen Peggy at her engagement party, where he had met Wells for the first time. He had not liked the man at all and told Peggy as much, he was quite upset to find out Peggy had turned down a field agent position just because Wells convinced her to. He had told her that _he_ was the one who recommended her for that position, and Peggy had not reacted well. As far as Olivia knew, they had gotten into a small fight and Peggy had stormed off.

That was the last conversation Peggy had had with her brother before he was deployed. The next thing they knew Michael had died in the war and Peggy still held an enormous amount of grief and guilt for how they parted ways in anger. Despite how many times Olivia told her that Michael would be _so proud_ of her, it was never enough.

Olivia took a deep breath, squeezing Peggy's hands one more time, and forcing a happier smile onto her face for her friend, "These new recruits," she began, "Have you seen them yet?"

Peggy shook her head, "No, so far all I've done was read their files, but I can certainly guess which man Dr. Erskine has in mind for Phase Two."

"Who was it?"

"A man named Steven Grant Rogers."

"What makes you think he is the one Dr. Erskine is thinking about?"

Peggy gave her a small smirk, shaking her head, "I would have a hard time describing it," she said, "Perhaps you should see him for yourself."

Olivia lifted an elegant eyebrow, "This is your way of telling me we're late for the lineup, isn't it?"

Peggy chuckled, "Well you _did_ take quite a while to sort out your tie," she teased.

Olivia rolled her eyes and stepped to the side, picking up her jacket as it rested on the edge of the sink, and put it on. She turned back to Peggy, straightening her jacket as she began to button it, "What do you think?" she asked, gesturing to herself in her army regulated uniform.

It was standard issue and much like the uniform Peggy herself was wearing. It was a white blouse with a black tie under a brown jacket with an equally brown pencil skirt that went to her knees, black pumps and pantyhose completed the outfit. Truly the only difference between her uniform and Peggy's was the arm band she wore on her right arm. It was a white band with a red cross in the middle of it to symbolize that she was a medic on the field.

Peggy gave her a pointed look, "I think you should wear the proper insignia," she commented.

But Olivia shook her head, she knew which insignia Peggy was talking about. Upon the completion of Dr. Erskine's experiment she had been given a position in the army. Despite being designated a medic, she had been given an official title and rank, she wasn't sure how much was official though. It had been something that had been thrown across the papers in her country, what the people called her and what the Army seem to go along with. But she had never had specialized training, she had never gone up through the ranks, to achieve the one she had been given. She was technically a Major in the army. Though she hardly used that, preferring instead to retain herself as a medic. She didn't feel confident enough in herself to have any sort of authority over the other men, especially when so many were going to actually have more basic training than she had, and that was on top of the fact that not many women were given such authoritative roles in the military either. She had had some training, of course, but she what she specialized in was more related to the medical side. She still blushed whenever the people would address her by her 'title' now.

They had taken to calling her 'Major Britannia' in the papers, a sort of propaganda to bolster support back home, that there must be something special about her to be given her title and rank, that it would mean good things in the war to come.

She wasn't very fond of it and always took care to conveniently forget her jacket with the distinguishing insignia that proved her rank sewn into it.

"Besides that," Olivia gave Peggy a look.

Peggy smiled and nodded, "You look fine. Very official," she looked at Olivia with a softening expression, "You look strong, and healthy."

Olivia had to look away a moment at the crack and Peggy's voice on that last word. She knew her best friend was by no means foolish or stupid, the girl had likely known her health was getting worse and worse by the day. This experiment had literally saved her life and, to Peggy, saved her dearest friend. So she stepped forward and pulled Peggy into a reassuring hug, always careful of her strength. She had been so frightened to even touch anyone in the facility after Phase One because her strength was so much more than even Dr. Erskine had anticipated. She was afraid to hurt those around her. She would have never forgiven herself if she'd harmed Peggy.

Peggy, however, would not stand for that and, within a week, she had stormed in and yanked her into a hug to prove to she would never harm her best mate, or anyone really. It had taken a while, but eventually Olivia worked out her strength, what was best for those around her, and she could now hug anyone and appear as though a normal person. Dr. Erskine had told her, when she first arrived to help him select the next test subject, that he would prefer her to keep her strength a secret. He did not want any of the potential subjects to realize what the experiment would actually _do_ , the benefits it would offer, and try to cheat their way into the position. It would work best for everyone involved if they knew as little about the procedure about to happen or even that there was a procedure to compete for.

"Come," Olivia said as she stepped back, "Let us go see these new recruits, and this Steven Rogers."

Peggy nodded and linked her arm with Olivia's as they stepped out of the room, out of the barracks, and into the camp.

Olivia couldn't help but wonder what this Steven Rogers would be like. If Peggy could guess he might be the next subject just from his file, then there had to be something about him, physically, that stood out. But she knew there was far more to the experiment than just physical attributes. She wondered what it was about this boy that had Dr. Erskine so confident he would be the next phase in the program. But if both had a feeling about this man...

Then Steven Rogers must be an exceptional man.

A/N: What's this? Olivia is a designated MAJOR? Which is one rank _above_ Captain? O.O But literally no worries about rank, seriously.

She's expressed here that she doesn't feel she deserves that rank because she hasn't trained for it and she doesn't feel she should be given any sort of command or control over the lives of others when she hasn't had the training or military knowledge. She won't be 'pulling rank' on Steve unless it is a very, VERY deserving moment, which will be quite rare. I like to think that she would trust Steve's leadership more than her own given he will at least be going through training in a different way that she did. Much like, I think, Steve would defer to Olivia's judgments regarding the health or welfare of the troops :)

In my head, the main reason she ranked Major was because she technically came first in the universe of this story. She was Phase One, so she gets one rank above Steve, even though he's not a Captain yet ;) But, again, not going to be an issue of power between them, they both have their areas of expertise ;)

As for her 'hero name' sort of thing, Major Britannia, I really agonized over what she could be. I mean, there was a Captain Britain (male) and a Lionheart (female) that seemed to be somewhat the equivalent to Captain America, but I felt like it would be too obvious to call her that or even Major Britain (I wanted to keep with the military rank theme) :/ And when I was looking for titles to call the stories, I was looking at the lyrics for 'Rule, Britannia' at one point and thought it was a lovely word and, in being the female personification of 'Britain,' I thought it would fit and represent Olivia well :) I hope calling her that does not offend anyone, I don't mean for it to be offensive at all, but merely a way to represent an amazing people and Allied force with a superhero like Olivia :)

I gotta say thank you guys so much for your amazing reviews in the first chapter :') I'm really glad that you're enjoying Olivia so far and her future as a Medic :')

Timeline for this chapter:  
Bucky is deployed/Steve meets Erskine - June 14th 1943  
Training begins with the Colonel - June 15th 1943

Some notes on reviews...

That was one of the things I really enjoyed when writing Olivia, the potential between her and Steve. With such similar experiences, they definitely will both be more aware of when they need support and when they need comfort :) And the fluff, taking two people who weren't really the object of anyone's affection and sticking them together? They're both just so adorable together and sort of stumbling their way into a relationship in the middle of a war lol, that's so them :)

That is something I'm aiming for with Olivia, that understanding. Steve won't be able to hide things or downplay them the way he might around others, because she's been there and experienced similar situations. She'll know how to treat certain things with a gentleness and understanding others wouldn't :)

I really wanted to explore the Medics in this story. My dad is a huge history nerd and my mom is a nurse so they were both a lot of help with understanding the pressure and the reality of the situation the Medics would find themselves in. Reading up more on just the basics of what they were taught when they were sent into the field is an eye opener about not only how dangerous it was for them physically but also mentally, given they would have to make split second decisions about who to treat (due to supplies) and who they had to leave to die :'( I wanted to explore what it might be like to have a medic that really could do what Erskine thought, and get more people out of harms way. But her lack of actual fighting will come up quite a few times, which may make for some rather sweet moments between her and Steve ;)

Olivia is more a mathematician, but she does have some background with code breaking so in a pinch she could help more in that area :) I have seen the Imitation Game, it was an amazing movie. With her health, Olivia wasn't really able to do much active code breaking, she would have needed to get the information to officials too quickly than she'd be able to do if she was in a hospital and, with her health, she might not have been able to dedicate enough time or focus to the codes as they would deserve :( Math was a safer option for her, crunching numbers that weren't likely to change much or that were from after-the-fact incidents was less of a strain :( But she's definitely geeky over things like that, finding patterns and solving puzzles, working out problems :) And no worries at all! I always invite anyone to correct things I might get wrong. I really want the story to be as true to the characters/cultures/countries as possible :) But yup, Olivia has a superhero name, she's not quite fond of it, but it's what she was given ;)

Oh boy, when Olivia meets Steve and Bucky :D She and Steve have some...interesting conversations and Bucky's reaction to her made me smile :)

Lol, good thing there's a medic in the house to help ;) She's got her smelling salts at the ready if the excitement gets to be too much again ;)


	3. Private Rogers

Private Rogers

Peggy Carter stood beside Olivia Williams as they joined a row of soldiers, new in from the area and there for training before they would be deployed to the front lines. There were many men, large, bulky, all very strong-looking, all appearing very ready to fight. However, there was one man, right at the end, who didn't appear to fit in with the others. He was, what most would call, small, scrawny, and rather frail-looking. Peggy couldn't help but look beside her to her friend to gauge her reaction, Olivia's gaze drawn to the shorter man. But she saw something on her friend's face besides the curiosity she was sure that was on hers, there was a soft smile on Olivia's face. Peggy could almost guess exactly what the girl was thinking, she herself had looked just like the man, small, frail, weak, but, looking at the woman now, there would have been no telling she had ever been so.

She leaned over to whisper to her friend, "What you think of him?"

Olivia glanced at Peggy and then back at the young man, looking down at a clipboard Peggy held in her hand, reading the names, wanting to make sure that she was looking at the right man. The men were meant to stand in order to make addressing them easier. Steven Rogers, that was the name on the list for the man in his place.

Looking at him, Olivia knew almost instantly why he was there when he looked so out of place. Dr. Erskine had explained to her how the procedure was going to go and what would be expected of her afterwards. He had also explained what the next phase would be after hers, should Phase One be successful. It had been the agreement between her country and America that each should be represented in the experiment that Dr. Erskine was going to be holding. She had been the first test subject, meant to determine whether the procedure was even safe. America had been cautious to enter the war at all, joining 2 years after it began, and it was reflected in their hesitance to allow this experiment to happen. She knew the higher ups in the army had argued and pleaded with the government to allow a test to even be done, so they were very on edge about it and skeptical. With Phase One a success, America had no reason to hold back. Now they knew they would not be risking any of their soldiers for such an experiment as they would now have proof it was likely to work.

She had been more than happy to volunteer, even after Dr. Erskine explained the dangers of it. Whether the experiment worked or not made little difference to her, in the end. If it worked she would be able to do her part to help stop the war, to save the soldiers and return them to their families. If it didn't work she would merely go back to her life as it was, doing what she could to help in hospitals. Or, if the situation had gone to the extreme and she had not survived the procedure, at least she would have died on her terms, helping to save the life of another. For whatever mistakes they made with her trial, they would correct for the next person. She had been lucky though, and the experiment had worked exactly as Dr. Erskine hoped, better even.

It was clear at this young man was meant to be the American test subject, at least if Dr. Erskine had anything to say about it. She was curious about him. He looked just as ready as the others to be trained. He looked even more willing than the others to be there, more serious, more focused. She could guess, just by looking at him, that he was of the more 'heart of a soldier' sort as no one of his physique would have wanted to join the war unless it was something truly serious to them, something they wished to accomplish. It wasn't that he thought the army needed him, due to his physical attributes, but because HE wanted to help. She was sure of that. And she knew Dr. Erskine would not have allowed someone there, especially someone like this new recruit, if he himself did not believe the man was a potential subject for his experiment. Given what she knew of his requirements for a test subject, she couldn't help but think that this young recruit, despite what he appeared to be, would be something truly special.

"Are you ready for this?" Peggy asked as she looked at Olivia when the girl didn't give her an answer. This would be her first time actually interacting with any of the troops, even if they were just recruits, and she knew Olivia had been quite nervous earlier.

Olivia gave her friend a nod, not quite sure what she should say. She knew Dr. Erskine had brought her here to observe the new recruits and to determine which of them would be best for the next phase of his experiment. It seemed that, now that America knew the procedure would work, they were more than eager for Phase Two to begin and wanted it to happen as soon as possible. Peggy seemed to think this Steven Rogers would be it as did Dr. Erskine, and she hoped that they were right. But she had learned to never ever judge someone on their appearance or even what they appeared to be. She could guess what he was like, but she would need to know more about him to truly be certain if she was right. Hearing about how badly the experiment could go with the wrong subject, they had to be _extremely careful_ who was selected.

Peggy returned the nod, stepping away from her to address the new recruits, "Recruits, attention!" she waited a moment till they jumped into the right position, "Gentlemen, I'm Agent Carter, I supervise all operations for this division. And this is Major Williams," she gestured over at Olivia, who gave them a short nod and a small smile, "Our resident medic for the duration of your training."

One of the men scoffed as he observed Peggy walking up and down the line, "What's with the accent, Queen Victoria? Thought I was signing up for the _U.S._ Army."

Olivia just barely managed to keep from laughing loudly when the man made that comment. She could not however control the widening of her smile when she saw Peggy turn on her heel and stalk up to the man. He was about to learn exactly why you did NOT mess with Peggy Carter.

"What's your name, soldier?" Peggy eyed him.

"Gilmore Hodge, _your Majesty_."

"That is _Agent Carter_ ," Olivia called, revealing her own like-accent.

She had no doubt that Peggy could handle herself with this man, but she wanted to show support for her friend and she didn't want to appear to be too much of a pushover just because she was a medic. Medics were typically non-combatants and some seemed to think it meant they were too weak or squeamish to handle actual killing. Her rank did help in that regard, that she was afforded somewhat more respect being a Major, but as she preferred to be seen as just a medic, she needed the men to understand respect for anyone, no matter the rank was important.

"Step forward, Hodge," Peggy ordered and so the man did, "Put your right foot forward."

"Mmm…" the man hummed as he eyed Peggy up and down, doing as she commanded, "We gonna wrassle? Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like."

Without warning, Peggy swiftly punched him, hard, right in the face, sending him plummeting to the ground, into the mud.

"Stand down, Major Williams," the colonel of the training camp called as Olivia began to move to attend to the fallen man. He drove up on a small jeep vehicle with Dr. Erskine beside him. He got out and slowly approached the men. This man would not be getting medical attention for whatever damage Peggy may have done to his face, disrespect to a senior officer would not be tolerated within his camp. He addressed Peggy, "Agent Carter."

"Colonel Phillips," Peggy greeted.

"I see you're breaking in the candidates. That's good!" he looked down at Hodge, "Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention till somebody comes tells you what to do."

"Yes, sir," the man huffed as he followed the order.

"General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons but they are won by men," the colonel walked among the men, "We are going to win this war because we have the best men…" he paused when he spotted Steven standing there, before shaking his head, "And because they're gonna get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers. And they will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell. _Dismissed_!"

Olivia watched the soldiers disperse to go get settled in their barracks, before she turned and approached Dr. Erskine, "Dr. Erskine," she greeted politely as she neared him, reaching out to shake his hand.

"My dear, my dear," Dr. Erskine smiled at her, giving her a hug instead, "Tell me, what do you think of these new recruits?"

"I do not like that Hodge man," Olivia remarked honestly.

Dr. Erskine let out a hearty laugh at that, nodding his head, "I am more interested in the little one."

"Steven Rogers?" Olivia asked, just wanting to make sure she _had_ assumed correctly in terms of which soldier was the one he had hopes for.

Dr. Erskine nodded, glancing to the side when he saw the colonel gesturing him over, "Do me a favor, my dear, keep an eye on Mr. Rogers. I have a good feeling about him."

Olivia could only nod, unable to help but have a good feeling as well. While all the other men had cracked a smile or even laughed at what Hodge had said when he was mocking Peggy, Steven did not. He remained at attention and he even looked somewhat annoyed with the man's remarks.

Just that one gesture told her quite a bit about Mr. Rogers, and she looked forward to learning more.

~8~

"He'll be just fine," Peggy said, reaching out to place a hand on Olivia's shoulder as the girl fidgeted beside her, watching as Steven got trapped under the barbed wire portion of the obstacle course, a pole having been kicked out by one of his fellow soldiers to make it collapse on top of him.

Olivia said nothing as she watched the man struggle, one of the other officers rushing to help pry it up to give him a chance to get out, all the while grumbling about how the private had gotten his rifle in the mud. She hurried over when the officer gestured for her to join them, frowning when she saw that Steve had a few minor cuts on the side of his face from the barbed wire, luckily his uniform had kept him from being cut in other areas of his body but his face was not so lucky.

"You get this boy taken care of," the officer told her, pointing a finger at her.

Olivia nodded her head, offering Steven a small smile, "This way," she said, gesturing her head off to the side, towards a vehicle that was stationed a short distance away, "I can treat you over here."

"I don't need any help," he said, "It's just a scratch. I'm fine."

"Be that as it may, I _am_ the medic and it is my duty to make sure all wounds, no matter how superficial, are treated. It wouldn't do for our soldiers to come down with an infection after all," she led him over to one of the larger vehicles that had a trunk open in the back.

She gestured for the two soldiers who were sitting there, chatting, to disperse and invited Steven to sit on the back with her. She turned, pulling a large duffel pack from the back of the vehicle, opening it to reveal medical supplies. She glanced up at him and she fiddled with some of the items within, eyeing the small cuts to assess them. They were only on one side of his face, the right side, the side that had fallen onto him. She glanced down at the supplies in her hand, a small strip of cloth and a brown bottle with a white cap.

"If you could just look that way," she gestured into the vehicle so that he could turn his face more and she could see the cuts clearer.

He did as he was instructed, staring into the back of the vehicle and preparing himself not to flinch when the time came for her to touch the cloth she was soaking in hydrogen peroxide to his face. He knew how badly it could sting.

"I'm sorry about them," she told him in a soft whisper, glancing over towards the other soldiers as they were gathered by their new officer to go over the next step in their training, "We're not allowed to interfere no matter how much we may want to."

"You telling me you want to stop people acting like jerks like that?" Steven muttered.

Olivia gave a small smile, "I very much do," she agreed, "I don't like bullies."

"Neither do I," he admitted.

"I'm sorry," she remarked, "We've been instructed to observe the new recruits and how they act, to learn more about them as people."

He scoffed a little bit, "Shouldn't you be more worried about how good of soldiers we are?"

"You can learn an awful lot about a person just by watching how they interact with others. The true test is not about how people treat their equals but about how they treat those who are inferior to them. Not that you're inferior!" she added quickly, realizing how that could come across, "I didn't mean...I'm not saying...I just...oh bollocks," she muttered the last part under her breath.

But he chuckled at it, "It's alright, I know I'm kind of scrawny."

"I don't think that," she told him

He glanced at her, "You mean to tell me, that me standing next to all of these big meatheads doesn't make you think I'm scrawny?"

Olivia gave him a small smile, lowering the strip of cloth, "Not at all, I actually think you're quite brave."

He stared at her moment, his face scrunched in confusion, "Brave?" That was _not_ a word he heard very often in association with him.

She nodded, "We're not just observing the bigger soldiers, we're observing _everyone_. I've learned a lot about _you_ just from watching how you handle what the others have been doing to you, how they've been treating you."

"Like what?"

"Well, to start, you are very resilient," she offered, "You never back down, you never give up. But, what's more, you don't let what they do get to you. No matter how much they push you, you don't seem to want to hurt them back. You defend yourself, of course, if they start on you first, but it never makes you want to attack them in return or attack them _first_. I think that's the markings of a great man, to know when to fight but to also try and do all he can to avoid fighting."

"Yeah," he murmured, looking back towards the vehicle again, a soft flush on his cheeks at hearing her praising him in such a way. He cleared his throat and readied himself for the sting again, "Let's just get this over with."

"Steven," Olivia said, "I'm done."

He looked at her sharply, "What do you mean?" she held up the cloth in her hand, showing small bits of red on it, revealing that she had already dabbed at his wounds while they had been speaking and he hadn't seemed to notice. He looks down at the red splotches, "Well, what do you know?" he remarked. He smiled up at her, "You're good at this."

"Yes, well, medic," she gestured towards the band on her arm.

"Right, yeah, of course, sorry."

"But thank you," Olivia said as she turned to put away the supplies and look around for something else, debating whether an antibacterial salve would be enough as opposed to putting a bandage of sorts on his scratches, "That was always the thing I hated most as a child, how much it stung."

"Did you get in many scrapes as a kid?" he asked.

"Not as many as you would think," she shook her head, "I didn't have much chance to play outside with the other children as I was growing up. I was quite a sickly child so I never had much opportunity to be outside. Peggy though," she glanced back at her friend as she talked to the colonel and back to Steven, "She was always playing everywhere, anywhere she could. I always wanted to join her whenever I had the chance but she seemed to think I wouldn't be able to handle it very well. She was quite right, too."

It was honestly a bit funny, when she looked back on it now. After the first time Peggy had witnessed her collapse, her friend had become the 'authority' on how much they played or when. Peggy had always been _so worried_ that an activity would be too much for her, so they relied on the books to help keep up the sense of adventure. Now though, she would easily be able to outrun Peggy and leave _her_ a panting mess in the dust. Not that she would, she didn't enjoy humiliation like that. It had been...wonderful...to be able to run freely again, to run fast and be able to breathe, but she didn't like to show off what she could do, still feeling like it was going to stop working at any time and she'd be back on the ground, collapsed and struggling to breathe.

" _You_ were sick as a kid?" Steven eyed her.

"You don't believe it?"

"It's a little hard to," he countered, "You're perfect," and flinched at his words, "I mean, you LOOK perfect," and started to blush as he made it even worse, "I mean," he took a breath, "You don't look like you're the sort to get sick easy."

"Oh yes," she nodded, finding his small sputtering a bit endearing, "Quite terrible allergies, as it were."

"Yeah I've been there," he remarked, "Asthma also made it hard to keep up with the other kids."

"Dyspnea," Olivia gestured to herself, "Wasn't made any better with my arrhythmia."

"Get out of here," he gave her an almost awed look, " _I_ had heart palpitations! Ever have a stomach ulcer?" he asked, only to wish the ground would open up and swallow him after the words left his mouth. Bucky would have punched him in the shoulder for asking a lady such a question.

"Not so much stomach ulcers, but I _did_ get quite ill if I ate or drank milk, lactose intolerance and all," Olivia answered anyway, not seeming thrown or insulted or disgusted by the question.

"You can't eat _ice cream_?" he asked her, sounding horrified by just the thought.

"I used to not be able to," she told him, "The uh...wonders of modern medicine," she caught herself before she said too much about just why she could now stomach dairy. That serum had truly done wonders.

"Yeah, yeah," he readily agreed, "Thanks to those new supplements, my anemia is under control lot better than it would have been. Not too fond of Liver," he grimaced at the memory of the taste. People used to have to eat almost nothing but liver or drink the juices from it in copious amounts to manage anemia like his, but they'd made some new supplements a few years ago that made it easier and less costly.

"I used to get anemic too, sometimes," Olivia said, "But it mostly presented whenever I was ill with something else, usually the medications and illnesses would just wear me out."

"Yeah, I uh, I actually suffer from fatigue," he remarked, "Some um...nervous issues as well," his voice trailed off, thinking about his nervous disorders that caused him chronic pain.

"I was always quite frail," Olivia added, sounding as though she were trying to cheer him up somehow, despite the morbid topic, like she wanted him to know it was ok, that she understood exactly what that was like, "Lack of milk doesn't exactly help the bone structure."

"I'd imagine."

"Always seemed like I could never step outside without breaking something or spraining something or coming down with something else. I was always in hospital."

"I've been in an out a time or two."

"It's why I wanted to be a nurse," Olivia continued, "I was there so often it just...made sense. That way I would be able to help, even if I couldn't do much for the war effort myself."

"You wanted to be a soldier?"

"I don't know if I have what it takes to be a soldier, I don't like killing anyone. I would rather help a soldier than harm them."

"I get it. I don't want to kill any of the Nazis either. I'm sure all the other guys here are we willing to, but I just want to stop them hurting other people."

"I never thought I would have a chance to do anything," she told him, glancing around at the other soldiers, "If it wasn't for Dr. Erskine I would probably still be wandering around the hospital, trying to treat the wounded and keep the children smiling. He gave me a chance to _do_ something."

Steven eyed her a moment, glancing back at the soldiers and then turning to her, dropping his voice a little lower to speak more privately, "That's what he said to me too. Dr. Erskine. That he would only offer me a chance to help."

Olivia bit her lip a moment, debating how much she should say. The Colonel had alluded, while speaking to the men, that one of the recruits would be selected to become a new super soldier, but he hadn't gotten too in depth about exactly what that would mean and so she wasn't sure how much to reveal. She took a breath, leaning in, a small cotton swab in her hand, putting an antibacterial salve on his wounds, making it look like she was still treating them even while she spoke to him privately, "Dr. Erskine is considering you for something that might change the course of the war," she told him quietly, "The Colonel has his sights set on other soldiers though."

"Then I'm out of luck, aren't I?" he muttered, "There's no way I would be chosen for anything over those other guys."

"I wouldn't sell yourself so short, Steven," she remarked, "You possess qualities that the other men do not. And it is _those_ qualities that Dr. Erskine will be looking for in the man he chooses."

He was quiet for quite a while, letting her work as he absorbed her words, "It's Steve."

"I'm sorry?"

"I don't really go by _Steven_. I prefer just Steve."

Olivia smiled at that, "Well then, Just Steve," she teased, "I have to insist you call me Liv, all my friends do."

"I can't, ma'am," Steve shook his head, "You're a lady _and_ a Major and..."

"I'm also _just_ a medic," Olivia cut in, "Until I've seen action, I don't feel like I deserve to be a Major. I haven't earned that title yet. I have earned the right to be a medic. So please, at least when everything is all 'at ease,' call me Liv."

Steve let out a long breath but there was a quirk to his lips, he appreciated a person who worked for what they had instead of gliding through life, "Liv it is then."

"Wonderful."

Steve returned the bright smile she gave him with the word with one of his own as he pulled away, seeing she was finished with her work on his face. He glanced at the other men, at the colonel addressing them, and back to her, "Any advice?" he asked.

Olivia considered it a moment, not sure she could really say anything more than she already had, not wanting to cheat when it came to the tests Dr. Erskine was going to perform...but something inside her told her Steve truly _would_ be the best person for the next phase of the experiment. He wasn't asking her to cheat, he wasn't asking her for a way to be selected, he was only asking for advice, not demanding it, and leaving it up to her to offer any or refuse.

"Just...be yourself, and be honest."

"Thank you," Steve spoke, hopping off the back of the vehicle.

"And be careful!" Olivia called lightly as he turned to walk off, he looked back at her for a moment and she offered him another smile, "I hate seeing people get hurt."

Steve could only laugh at that as he turned to jog back after the men.

Olivia watched him go, not even noticing Peggy had joined her at the back of the vehicle until her friend spoke nearly right in her ear, "So what do you think of him?" Peggy asked.

Olivia let out a soft sigh, "I see it now," she remarked, "And I think you and Dr. Erskine are right, Steve Rogers should be the one selected for Phase Two. He's a good man."

~8~

"Calm down," Peggy called, though her words were mumbled through the pen she had between her teeth as she examined paperwork on the clipboard in her lap.

She was sitting in the front seat of one of the larger jeeps, another soldier beside her at the wheel, behind her Olivia was half-kneeling on the seat, looking out over the back of the vehicle, at the dirt path that the recruits were supposed to be running up to any moment now.

"I just want to make sure they're ok," Olivia insisted, "The heat is brutal this time of year, they've been running for _hours_ , and their uniforms are not very forgiving in the sun, they could have collapsed from heat stroke by now! I just need to know they're doing ok."

Peggy rolled her eyes in a teasing fashion, "They or HE?"

Olivia didn't dignify that with a response, though she could feel her cheeks heating up but she would blame the heat for it. She knew Peggy didn't mean for her teasing to be harsh or cruel, it was a genuine tease, one friend to another, one sister, even, to another. But she wasn't fully sure exactly what Peggy was teasing her about. There were times where her friend would give her these little looks or little smirks or a nudge in the arm, every so often, more so when Steve was nearby, and she wasn't sure exactly what the meaning was.

Dr. Erskine had asked her to keep an eye on Steve Rogers, more specifically than any of the other recruits, and she took her duties very seriously. She owed it to the man to take them seriously. So she observed Steve whenever she could, whether it was watching him during basic training as he struggled to keep up, or observing him from across the canteen when he ate his meals alone while reading a book, or joining one of the more senior officers during inspections of the barracks. It wasn't anything more than that, she kept insisting to Peggy whenever she made the little remarks, she was merely doing her duty.

...her duty just happened to be observing Steve Rogers.

And if she happened to be pleased with what she saw in him, well that was not something she'd share with Peggy just yet after all her teasing.

Peggy seemed to feel that she was doing her duty a little _too well_ and that there certainly had to be something more to it than mere observation. According to Peggy, observation didn't include interaction, or chatting, or sending little smiles to each other when they caught the other looking their way. But it was a natural response, when someone smiled at her she would often smile back, it was nothing more than that! Peggy just kept laughing every time she tried to argue so.

"Here they come!" Olivia called quietly, leaning forward just a little bit more and squinting against sunlight to see the recruits as they jogged along the dirt path. She could hear the sergeant calling after the troops, urging them on, before she could actually _see_ them.

"Pick up the pace, ladies!" the sergeant was yelling, "Let's go! Double time! Come on! Faster! Faster! Move! Move!"

She could make out the majority of the regiment, but it wasn't until the dust cleared when the sergeant leading them called them to a halt beside a large flagpole that she could see Steve lagging behind, but still on his feet.

"Squad, halt!" the sergeant only gave them a moment of breath before he continued, gesturing at the flagpole, "That flag means we're only at the halfway point. First man to bring it to me gets a ride back with Agent Carter and Major Williams. Move, move!"

"Peggy, you've got to see this," Olivia reached out and patted Peggy on the arm, drawing her attention to the mad squabbling going on behind her. The woman turned in her seat to observe as the different soldiers all scrambled towards the flagpole, each trying to jump up on it, trying to wiggle their way towards it, locking their legs and their arms as they tried to maneuver any way they could to reach the top.

"What do you think?" Peggy asked, glancing up at Olivia, "About the flagpole," she added quickly with a small teasing smirk, "Not about how Rogers looks standing there in his uniform."

"Peggy!" Olivia gave her a small huff, shaking her head, before sighing, "Their belts," she answered, "They could wind them around the flagpole for more leverage and use it lift themselves up, or they could make a formation on top of one another to heave themselves up to the flag."

"Ah, but that would require _selecting_ only one person to get the flag," Peggy countered the last option.

"If that's all you got, this army's in trouble!" the sergeant continued to rile them, "Get up there, Hodge! Come on! Get up there! Nobody's got that flag in 17 years!" the girls smirked when the men failed to get the flag, "Now fall back into line! Come on, fall in! Let's go! Get back into formation!"

"Look, there's your man," Peggy nudged of Olivia as they watched Steve approach the flagpole, standing at the base as he looked up at it.

"Stop it," Olivia murmured, her blush more pronounced.

"You're not denying it though," Peggy sing-songed behind her.

"Rogers!" the sergeant snapped, all the other men back in formation except him, "I said fall in!"

Olivia couldn't help but smile as she watched Steve look down at the base of the flagpole...and pull the pin out from the bottom that was holding the pole up. The flag pole fell over in one swift move, bouncing slightly as it hit the ground. Steve ambled over, all of the other men too stunned to make for the flag, and yanked it off the end of the pole. He turned, without an outward show of victory, and handed the flag over to the sergeant.

"Thank you, sir," was all Steve said, before continuing on his way towards the jeep and hopping in the back, beside Olivia.

"Impressive," Olivia offered.

Peggy couldn't help but notice he seemed far more pleased at Olivia's single word of praise than the fact that he had gotten the flag when the others couldn't.

A/N: A bit of interaction for our lovely couple :) I tried to steer their conversation more towards some sort of fluff, but Steve was just so awkward and Olivia was so focused on fixing his scratches that it kept coming around to medical talk, which ended up heading into a sort of competition for who was the most ill lol. Quite an interesting first chat for them. Bucky certainly would have been going 'Steve, what the hell are you doing!? Stomach Ulcers?!' lol :)

But in the end, I felt like that was a sort of important moment for them. Olivia got to understand him more, Steve got to meet someone who was probably sicker than he was as a kid, but they both got to discuss the war and get to know each other :) They have quite a few more conversations to come ;)

We'll also be getting a look at Peggy's thoughts on the two of them very soon. We know Peggy was somewhat impressed with Steve at the beginning, or at least could see his potential, so it'll be interesting to see what she thinks of her best mate having some very clear interest in Steve. She seems to be very aware of what Olivia might be feeling, even if Olivia isn't fully aware yet herself lol :)

Also, just because I've had a hard time getting the dates for everything happening in the movie straight at times, I'm going to put a tentative timeline at the end of each chapter to sort of help understand when the events of that chapter are taking place :) So if you go back to the prior two chapters, I'll have the tentative timeline there also ;) Most of the dates are based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe website so kudos to them :)

Timeline for this chapter:  
Olivia first sees Steve - June 15th 1943  
Olivia and Steve first talk - June 17th 1943  
Steve beats the Flagpole - June 19th 1943

Some notes on reviews...

Lol, I can see Tony making remarks about 'major this' and 'major that' when he's around Olivia just to tease her :)

Steve will have a respect for Peggy, and Olivia. But when it comes to who he likes more, he'll be leaning more towards Olivia :) To me, it seemed like, with how Steve talked about women and his interest in them, that he was much more focused on being a soldier and joining the war. Getting that change in the army, I felt, he'd put ALL his focus to proving himself deserving of being there and not really notice Peggy too much until they actually got to speak to each other and work together. Like he noticed her at first, but he didn't really let himself think too much on it because he wasn't there to woo women or find a girlfriend, he was there to learn to fight. With Olivia and how much he seems to need a medic just in training, he'd be interacting with her more, getting to know her more than he had Peggy, so his interest might take more with her in this situation ;) There will be a moment or two where Steve goes a little alpha-male and Olivia's just like 'no' and gets through to him, but I think they'll end up developing a nice dynamic and respect between each other :)

Thank you! I'll definitely look into him more :) And there'll definitely be a few moments where Olivia's rank gets brought up in terms of being one higher than Steve ;)

Oh Steve will, I think, find the difference in rank quite amusing. Because, as the soldier, he'll sort of naturally take the lead in combat, but off the field I think he'd definitely be following her lead more, sort of letting her set the tone/pace for the relationship since he always appeared to be very respectful of other women and taking cues from them over what was acceptable :)

Lol, that happens to me all the time with actors. I'm like 'wait...was he/she THAT character in that other movie?' but I'm never sure till I end up looking it up :) There'll definitely be a mention of Steve's date to the expo in a later chapter and her reaction to him. I felt so bad for him too, he was a really sweet guy and it made me think his date was the superficial type who only goes for 'handsome' men in the sense of like the big and strong type compared to Steve, but he was SUCH a good person and a good date even when he didn't really want to be there :( Olivia will definitely have something to say about Steve to Tony during that remark. Because she was actually THERE to witness him pre-serum and she can vouch for the man he was and how it was what was already special about him that got him selected to become Captain America in the first place :)

I can't say if Olivia's stronger than Steve yet, but they'll have fun trying to work out who is stronger/better in what area ;) But I agree, I picture her as this tiny (but lean) thing who looks so unassuming and then you see her just like running at full speed with three men on her back without breaking a sweat :)


	4. Pre-Op

Pre-Op

Olivia found it rather difficult to keep her attention on the conversation going on beside her between Dr. Erskine and Colonel Phillips while they walked through the training camp, passing a line of soldiers who were doing push-ups. She _should_ have been focused on the conversation, she really should have, the next phase of Dr. Erskine's experiment was scheduled to happen tomorrow and they were there to escort the chosen candidate to a debriefing about it. The doctor and the colonel we're currently debating which of the recruits would be the test subject, well, Dr. Erskine was telling the Colonel who the next test subject would be and the Colonel was trying to get him to change his mind. It was all very important, she should have been weighing in with her thoughts as it had come down to her to help select the candidate as an 'unbiased' party. However, her attention kept drifting to the soldiers in the middle of their exercises.

A part of her was arguing that she was looking over because it was Peggy who was giving the commands and egging on the men to go faster and to do more than what they were currently doing. But another, smaller, more traitorous, part of her mind whispered that, while Peggy _was_ one reason to look over, it was more the specific recruits who were drawing her attention. Specifically one recruit by the name of Steve Rogers. He looked like he was struggling quite a bit to even do a single push-up, let alone the ones they were being urged to do more of. The expression on his face was one of pure exhaustion and pain, yet, despite that, he didn't let out a single sound of discouragement and kept pushing himself, he kept _trying_. Even as he struggled, he would not give up.

She had to smile as she noted that, he had a strong spirit.

"Faster, ladies!" Peggy was shouting as she walked up and down the row of recruits, even putting her heel on the back of one soldier to make sure he was doing full push-ups, "Come on. My grandmother has more life in her, God rest her soul. Move it!"

"You're not really thinking about picking _Rogers_ , are you?" a voice spoke beside her, pulling her back to the conversation at hand, when she realized it was the colonel who had made the remark.

"I am more than just thinking about it," Dr. Erskine countered, giving the colonel a pointed look, "He is the clear choice."

The colonel did _not_ seem happy or pleased to hear that. He may have had _a say_ in which soldier should be selected for the procedure, but he was _not_ the one to make the final decision. It was Dr. Erskine's serum, his work, and his experiment, and it had been a stipulation of coming to work for the Allies against his own people that he be allowed to pick the subjects for his experiment. _No one_ was allowed to pick it up for him, _he_ had the final say. But that clearly would not stop the colonel from trying to sway him to see his point of view. The only person Dr. Erskine seemed willing to listen to was HER though the Colonel, as far as she knew, had been forbidden to speak to her about the procedure so as not to tamper with it.

"When you brought a ninety pounds asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought, what the hell? Maybe he'll be useful to you, like a gerbil. I never thought you'd pick him."

"There is nothing wrong with Steve Rogers," Olivia defended just as they reached the line of recruits, Peggy ordering them to get up for the next round of their exercise.

The colonel let out barking laugh at her response, gesturing wildly to the recruits, though both she and Dr. Erskine knew he was indicating Steve when he spoke next, "You stick a needle in that kid's arm and it's gonna go right through him."

"You would need quite a long needle," Olivia remarked, just a bit testy in her tone and being purposefully obtuse, which made Dr. Erskine smile to see her defending Steve, "And quite a strong one if you intend for it to go through the bone. No matter how skinny, it would be almost impossible to stick a needle through someone's arm in that manner."

"Don't you get sassy with me, girl," the colonel reprimanded her, "You are here to assist Dr. Erskine in making an informed decision, and to act as our medic, but I will remind you, I still rank above you. And I will have respect."

Olivia let out a small breath, pursing her lips, but gave him a single nod. She glanced over at the recruits once more, watching as they moved on to jumping jacks. All the others seemed to be keeping up easily with the pace that Peggy set for them, everyone except Steve. He was struggling just as much with that physical activity as he had with the push-ups. But, she noted, just like with push-ups, despite how much it was clearly hurting him and how much he was obviously struggling, he did not give up or voice a complaint. He pushed through.

"Come on, girls!" Peggy continued to urge them on.

"Look at that," the colonel gestured at Steve, his voice full of disappointment, "He's making me cry."

Dr. Erskine shook his head, repeating "I am looking for qualities beyond the physical."

The colonel rolled his eyes as though he had heard this response many times before. Olivia was certain it was a response Dr. Erskine _had_ given to many of those whom she was sure likely objected her own procedure. She had been quite similar to Steve in the sense that she had been weak and small and quite ill at the time. And while Dr. Erskine made the excuse that he did not want to risk a healthy soldier for the experiment should it go wrong, she knew he had only said it as an excuse instead of a reason.

"Do you know how long it took to set up this project?" the colonel asked.

"Yeah, I know," Dr. Erskine brushed it off with an exaggerated wave of his hand.

Olivia couldn't help but smile, for as much as the colonel had complained to Dr. Erskine about his choice of soldier, she knew the man also complained about how much he had put on the line to get this experiment going in the United States.

"All the _groveling_ I had to do in front of Senator What's-His-Name's committees?"

"Senator Brandt," Olivia reminded him, having only met the man once when she had been put on display by the colonel to the different Senators as living proof of what the experiment could do.

"Yes, I know," Dr. Erskine remarked, "I am well aware of your efforts."

"Then throw me a bone!" the colonel insisted, "Hodge passed every test we gave him."

Dr. Erskine smiled, "Not _every_ test, colonel."

Olivia nodded when the doctor gestured to her, "I don't like him."

While Dr. Erskine would have the final say about which soldier would be selected, SHE was the one who had to approve the pool of potentials to select from. If she did not like the soldier, they were stricken from the list of hopefuls. And Hodge, she disliked him very much.

Both she and Dr. Erskine were of the agreement that only Steve Rogers was appropriate, much to the colonel's displeasure.

The colonel rolled his eyes, "We can't base _our_ test subject on whether or not _your_ test subject has a crush on them!"

Olivia gave him a narrow eyed look, "This is _not_ about whether I have _a crush_ on the soldier in question," she stated firmly, "A physical attraction, or any attraction at all would _never_ be a deciding factor. I do not like Private Hodge because he is insulting, cruel, and arrogant. He takes pleasure in mocking those smaller than him. He'd rather trap someone weak under _barbed wire_ than pull them from it. Those are _not_ traits to be exacerbated by this experiment."

"He's big, he's fast, he obeys orders," the colonel continued to argue, trying to salvage the good points Olivia had brought up, "He's a _soldier_."

Dr. Erskine shook his head, "He's a _bully_."

The colonel scoffed, "You don't win wars with niceness, doctor," he turned without warning to grab something out of a box on a vehicle just behind them, holding something round in his hand, "You win war with guts."

The man threw the object he had taken, a grenade he'd pulled the pin out of, over at the new recruits, shouting out "Grenade!"

The response was immediate, and exactly as Olivia and Dr. Erskine expected, every single soldier except Steve bolted away from the area, quickly ducking to run for cover. Steve, on the other hand, dove right for the grenade, throwing himself on top of it and using himself as a shield, pulling the grenade even closer to himself to lay right on it.

"Get away!" the boy shouted, looking up only a moment to make sure they were following his order, "Get back!"

Olivia had moved to rush to his aid. Despite the procedure and how much stronger she was, she wasn't sure if she would be able to withstand an explosion from a grenade either, having not tested the effects of her regenerative healing abilities. But she knew she would stand a better chance than letting Steve get hurt. But the colonel had reached out and grabbed her arm, shaking his head firmly, though the man didn't look like he was running for cover either. A moment later she looked back over at Steve when there was no explosion to follow, the grenade had not gone off, something the colonel seemed to know would happen.

"It was a dummy grenade," another officer called out, "All clear. Back in formation."

Steve slowly uncurled himself from the grenade and looked up at the colonel and Dr. Erskine, "Is this is a test?"

Olivia gave the colonel a hard look for his actions, Dr. Erskine smirking when Steve proved his point, but the colonel could only let out a hefty sigh, "He's still skinny," he muttered before walking over to the men to collect their new test subject.

Olivia looked over at where Peggy was helping Steve to his feet, taking the grenade off the ground and calling the other man back into formation to continue their exercises. She caught his eye, he looked quite startled but also relieved. She saw how his eyes flickered to Dr. Erskine beside her, to the colonel approaching him, and back to her, and she offered him a small smile and reassuring nod. She turned only when she felt a gentle hand on her elbow to see Dr. Erskine smiling at her as well. He nodded his head to the side and she turned to follow him as they walked away from the field, leaving the colonel to speak to Steve a moment.

"You agree with me?" he asked her.

She nodded, "I have only spoken to him once," she remarked, smiling lightly as she recalled that Dr. Erskine himself had only spoken to HER once before he'd known she was the one to start his experiments, "And I can tell he is the right one for Phase Two. I have been observing him, as requested, spoken to him, read his files, watched him among the other men. I can think of no one better to represent the American people than Steve Rogers."

Dr. Erskine nodded, smiling, "Thank you, my dear."

She took a deep breath and stepped back as the doctor got into a nearby jeep, the colonel and Steve soon joining him, before the three took off to the colonel's office to explain the situation to Steve. She had been requested to stay back by the colonel, partly because this was now on American turf, an American citizen they would be speaking to, but also because Steve would still be tested right up until the moment of the procedure. They wanted to gauge how he would react to what he was about to be told without seeing her there as the 'end result' so they had a better idea of his determination. She didn't think they'd have a problem or that Steve would back out now.

All he'd wanted was a chance to prove himself, and now he had one.

~8~

Steve supposed he should have been grateful that he had been given something of a private room instead of being in the barracks with the other men upon finding out that he had been selected to take part in the next phase of Dr. Erskine's experiment. On one hand, he did _not_ want to have to deal with the men and their comments about how _he_ had been selected over them, namely Hodge. He also didn't know what they might do to him in order to try to take away his chance to fulfill his part in this project, he couldn't be sure they wouldn't try something to give themselves a better shot. But, on the other hand, being left with only his thoughts and worries and concerns about what would be happening in just a few hours was not helping him rest.

When he had been selected for Dr. Erskine's program, he had finally been told exactly what was going to happen. The man was involved in a project called Rebirth, the colonel had been serious when he said they were going to make a new breed of super soldier. Dr. Erskine had been working on a serum that, apparently, _could_ make someone into such a super soldier. But the process was still in the testing phases and he was looking for someone to participate in Phase Two. He hadn't thought he could stomach asking about what happened to the person involved in Phase One. All he had been told was he would be undergoing an experimental medical procedure in the morning, if he consented, and it was their hopes that the experiment would be a success and that he would come out of it as an example of the exact soldier they were aiming for. They offered to let him ask some questions, if he had any concerns, to voice them, but he hadn't thought it would help. The less he knew about what was coming, he had thought he would be the better for it.

He was regretting it now.

It really would have been more helpful to know what would be coming, instead of letting his imagination run wild with everything that could happen, everything that could go wrong.

He had pulled out one of his books, reading it to try and settle his nerves, when he heard a knock on the door. He looked up to see Dr. Erskine in the doorway, having opened it just a crack to peek in, "May I?"

"Yeah," Steve nodded when he saw the man gesture in a manner to enter the room. He quickly set his book beside him, motioning for the man to please have a seat.

Dr. Erskine smiled at him gently as he came to sit down on a stool across from the bed Steve was sitting on the edge of, "Can't sleep?"

"I got the jitters, I guess," Steve shrugged, trying to play off his nerves, not sure if he was still being tested or not.

Dr. Erskine let out a laugh, "Me too."

Steve was quiet for a moment before he turned to the doctor, serious, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Just one?"

"Why me?"

Dr. Erskine sighed, but nodded to himself, "I suppose that _is_ the only question that matters," he looked down at a bottle of schnapps he had brought into the room with him, turning it over in his hand carefully, thoughtful, "This is from Augsburg. My city. So many people forget that the first country that the Nazi's invaded was their own. You know, after the last war the…my people struggled. They…they felt weak. They felt small. And then Hitler comes along with the marching and the big show and the flags and the…and the…" he gestured around widely, "And he…he hears of me, my work and he finds me. And he says 'You.' He says 'You will make us strong.' Well, I am _not_ interested. So he sends the head of Hydra, his research division. A brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt. Now, Schmidt is a member of the inner circle and he's ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for occult power and Teutonic myth. Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers. But for Schmidt it is not fantasy. For him, it is real. He has become convinced that there is a great power hidden in the earth, left here by the Gods, waiting to be seized by a superior man. So when he hears about my formula and what it can do, he cannot resist," he shook his head, unable to forget the moment where he had seen Schmidt inject an early version of the serum into himself and how it had changed him, how it had made him stronger, but more deranged, deforming his head into a red-skinned skull, "Schmidt must become that superior man."

" _Did_ it make him stronger?" Steve wondered, not needing much to understand the man had stolen the formula for himself.

"Yeah. But there were...other effects. The serum was not ready. But more important, _the man_. The serum amplifies everything that is inside. So, good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why _you_ were chosen. Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows _compassion_."

"Thanks...I think."

The doctor smiled at him, turning to pour two glasses of the drink, "Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man."

Steve nodded, holding up the glass Dr. Erskine gave to him as a toast, "To the little guys."

"No!" Dr. Erskine suddenly shouted, moments before Steve was about to take a drink from the glass, "No! Wait! Wait! What I am doing? No! You have a procedure tomorrow. No fluids," he quickly took the glass from Steve and poured the contents into his own.

"Alright," Steve chuckled, "We'll drink it after."

"No!" Dr. Erskine gave a small laugh, " _I_ don't have procedure tomorrow. Drink it after? Drink it now!"

Steve shook his head at the man downed the drink for him, the two men falling into silence for a moment. He let the doctor enjoy the drink, to savor its memory, for just a while longer, before his nerves just couldn't wait anymore, "Doc, can you tell me what this procedure is going to be like?"

Dr. Erskine gave him a soft smile, having thought the boy would be rethinking his decision not to ask about what was coming. Luckily he had planned for just that, "It is funny you should ask that, there is someone here who can better answer it then myself."

He reached out and patted Steve on the shoulder, standing and moving towards the door. Steve watched as he opened it and spoke quietly to someone standing on the other side, before he gestured towards the room and disappeared. Steve straightened where he was sitting, his eyes widening when he saw Olivia step in and close the door behind her.

"You?"

"Were you expecting someone else?" she teased. She rested back against the door for a moment before she pushed off of it and went to join Steve by his cot, sitting down on the stool Dr. Erskine had just vacated across from him.

"I don't really know what I was expecting, I didn't think..." he took a deep breath, seeming to realize how rude his first reaction must have been though she didn't seem angry, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"No offense taken," she reassured him, "If I hadn't known what I was like before the procedure, I never would have guessed myself being the subject either."

Steve looked her up and down, but not in the same way that Hodge had eyed Peggy earlier when the recruits first arrived. Instead of looking at her appreciatively or like a piece of meat, Steve's gaze was more calculating, as though he were searching for some sign that she had not always looked the way she did.

"Here" Olivia turned just slightly and reached into the band around her right arm, pulling something out that was held within it in, between the band and the cloth of her jacket. It was a small piece of paper that was folded in half, held their securely by the tightness of the band. She opened the paper and looked at it for a moment before offering it to Steve.

He reached out and carefully took the picture from her, being very gentle with it, as though it were something precious. Olivia appreciated that, that he seemed to understand just how important the picture was to her, that she kept it on her person at all times, and was careful with it. It was another sign to her that she, Peggy, and Dr. Erskine were correct, that Steve would be the best subject for Phase Two of Project Rebirth. Olivia watched his face carefully, noting when he finally realized exactly what the picture was.

Steve looked up at her then back at the picture, and up at her once more, "You were Phase One?" he guessed. He supposed it should have been clear by now, given her comments only moments ago, given how she had spoken of being so ill as a child yet looking so healthy now. But he hadn't wanted to presume, it was always best to have all the facts.

The picture was of her and Peggy just before her own part in the experiment, when she had still been in the hospital in her country, recovering from another bout of illness and did not look at all like she did presently. She looked smaller, paler, far more weak, and quite ill if she had to put a word for it. With bags under her eyes, her hair limp, looking far too skinny from where arms were visible, there was a tiredness to her smile, and the way she leaned on Peggy just for support was obvious. It was very clear that the woman in the picture was her before Phase One.

"I was," Olivia said gently. She stood up and move to sit beside Steve, not too close, as she did not want to encroach in his personal space, but close enough where she could speak to him and look at the picture at the same time, "That was taken just before Phase One of Project Rebirth."

"Project Rebirth," Steve repeated, recalling the name from his debriefing earlier, "That's the name of the project the doctor was talking about," he didn't sound like he was asking a question, but Olivia nodded anyway, "And this is what it does?" he looked between the picture and Olivia once more.

Olivia nodded again, taking the picture back from Steve as he offered it to her, "It does exactly what Dr. Erskine said. It is meant to strengthen people, to remove weaknesses. It was his intention to show how it would react upon those deemed too weak to fight."

"Wow," Steve breathed, "It really does what it says on the tin then, a super soldier serum."

"Exactly as it says on the tin," Olivia repeated, "It does even more than that though, I'm sure Dr. Erskine warned you, it takes the good and makes it great, but it can take the bad and make it worse. He had to be sure of who he selects as his subject. It's why he selected you and I."

"Why us exactly?" Steve couldn't help but ask, his mind ironically in the same place her own had gone, thinking about all the other soldiers he trained with, the ones who would probably be far better off as a super soldier than he would. The ones who had excelled during basic training.

Olivia gave him a soft smile, "He was not lying when he said he was looking for qualities beyond the physical. Anyone can be trained to be a good soldier, not everyone can learn to be a good person. If you take a soldier conditioned to obey, that is what they will do, they will _obey_. They won't think, they won't care, they'll fight and fight and fight. That's why Peggy recommended me to Dr. Erskine. Because I cared _so much_ about other people, even when I was supposed to care more about myself."

"That's why you're a medic," Steve realized.

"Yes," Olivia agreed, "This isn't exactly how I thought my life would go," she admitted quietly, "Not that I'm not grateful for everything Peggy's done for me. I just…I always wanted to be a nurse. Spent enough time in hospital, and they were always so _kind_. I wanted to be like them. But my health and the war," she sighed, "Dr. Erskine was actually quite pleased to learn that, why he agreed with Peggy to bring me into the program. Just before the procedure started he pulled me aside to thank me," she smiled at the memory, "Said the war doesn't need more mindless soldiers marching off to battle with no thought to anyone else or anything else beyond winning. You need to _care_ about the men in your squad, even about your enemy to a degree. He wanted to make sure, first and foremost, that there would be someone in the field who would care about the fallen, the injured, the ones who needed help. It's why I went through with the procedure. I was always worried sick about Peggy, if she was alright, and then worrying about the parents of the children, if they'd be coming back or if those poor souls would be left orphans."

"I get it," Steve remarked, "I've wanted to be in the army since the war began, but...I've been pushing more to enlist after my pal, Bucky, decided he would too, and then he did, got in on the 107th Infantry Regiment. He's always had my back, and I wanted to have his. We were gonna be soldiers together...so why does Erskine want _me_?" Steve shook his head, something striking him, "I've been training to be a soldier, not a medic."

Olivia nodded, considering what to say to him. She was not privy to everything that went on in Dr. Erskine's mind, she could truly only speak in terms of what she had gathered herself from the few things he had said about it, "Someone to fight," she gestured to him, "Someone to protect," and then to herself, "Offense, defense."

"Soldier, medic," Steve continued, nodding along, getting it, the parallel, the balance between the two, "Man, woman," he added more as a joke though he could imagine it wasn't that much of one. If he was doing an experiment like this, he'd want to know how it affected everyone.

"America, England," Olivia continued the small joke that wasn't quite a joke either, "As far as I know it was the agreement made between the Allies that America and England would be equally represented. They started with me, Phase One and England got their end of the bargain, next was America, you."

"I guess I don't need to ask if it's going to work," Steve gave a weak chuckle.

"Yes, that is a reassurance I imagine," Olivia commented, "I went into my procedure completely blind."

"You didn't know it was going to work?" Steve frowned at her.

Olivia gave him a knowing look, "Would it have stopped you if you didn't know for sure that it would work either?"

"No," Steve answered, "I just wanted a chance. And I was given one by Dr. Erskine, the least I could do is give the chance back to him."

"And that is exactly why you are right for the project," Olivia reassured him.

"What's the procedure like?"

Olivia was silent for a moment, trying to put into words what had happened to her, trying to debate how much she should actually say, truly not wanting to frighten him or cause him any unnecessary anxiety. She shook her head a moment later, Steve was a strong man who had come this far and he was willing to go farther even if he didn't know the experiment would work. The best thing she could do for him right now was to be honest with him. No matter what she said, she knew he would still go through with the procedure.

"It's going to hurt," she began, "I won't lie and say it will be a walk in the park. It's going to hurt quite badly. I've suffered my fair share of pain, broken bones, internal pain, and this was, by far, the _worst_ I have ever felt. Breathe through it, remember why you're going through it, and do your best not to let them stop. I couldn't help it when I screamed," she looked down when she felt someone touch her hand, to see Steve had taken it at the crack in her voice as she remembered what she went through. She smiled at the gesture and looked back at him, "It will feel like it's going on forever, but it's really only a few minutes. They'll have to strap you down and will be putting you inside of tank of some sort, a pod. You may not remember much beyond the pain, but once it's over it doesn't hurt so bad. It doesn't hurt at all really."

"What's it like after?"

"After...I could _breathe_ ," Olivia recalled, frowning just slightly as she tried to remember what it had been like when she stepped out of the pod, to see Peggy standing there anxiously with tears in her eyes, even now it was a little fuzzy, the moments just after it all stopped, "It's a funny thing to recall, I know, but...that was what I noticed first. I took a deep breath and I realized I _could_ take a deep breath. My heart was racing, but I could still breathe, I wasn't falling down, I wasn't struggling, I felt _strong_. I was taller, too."

"I wouldn't mind being taller," Steve joked.

"I'm not sure what the procedure will be like for you exactly," Olivia remarked with a small frown of apology, "Dr. Erskine thinks it should be the same regardless of gender, but a few of the other scientists were concerned it would not be exact between the sexes."

"But I'll be able to help with the war, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't care what changes, or what doesn't change, as long as I can do my part and help."

Olivia gently turned her hand that he was holding to give his hand a reassuring squeeze, "You keep proving, over and over, why you're right for Phase Two. Because strong or weak, healthy or ill, big or small, you don't let it stop you from doing the right thing. War is complicated, it's not like dividing polynomials..."

Steve chuckled a bit at her analogy, "Dividing polynomials?"

"Yes, sorry," Olivia flinched, "I'm a bit of a math fanatic. Much like you clearly love your books," she nodded her head towards the books that had clearly been important enough to him to take to basic training with him, "But the point still stands, math is simple. There's usually only one right answer, war isn't like that. A good soldier can fight and kill, but a _good man_ tries to stop the fighting and only kills when he has to. Taking a man whose only objective is to kill his enemies and putting him through this procedure? How long before his enemies become everyone who isn't him?"

"I get it," Steve nodded and the two fell into a comfortable silence for a long while before Steve spoke up, having been looking at Olivia, observing her, reviewing everything he knew about her, how brave she was to go into her procedure unknowing if it would work, to go from a hospital bed right into the army all for the sake of trying to keep others out of hospital beds. He wouldn't mind getting to know more about her, "If this goes right tomorrow," he began, "Will that make us partners?"

Olivia could only shrug, "I don't know. All I've been told is that, once the procedure is complete, I am to help you train and adapt to your new abilities. Your new strength, agility, and endurance. After that I don't know what they have planned."

"Well, we _are_ allies, it would be good for the war effort, to see two soldiers from either side of the pond working together. I hope I get to work with you more."

Olivia gave him a smile for his words, and the two lapsed back into silence for a few more minutes, until Olivia excused herself, reminding him it would be best for him to get some rest before tomorrow.

Neither of them seemed to realize they had not let go of their hands from the moment Steve took hers till the time she left the room.

A/N: Awwww :) Steve wants to be partners and spend more time with her ;) ;)

I really felt so bad for Steve not having any clue what was coming because not even Erskine knew what would happen. With Olivia having gone through it, I couldn't see her not trying to talk to him about it to give him fair warning :) But lol, how obvious can Olivia be if even _the Colonel_ has noticed she might have a little crush on Steve. Probably obvious enough that she and Steve are probably the only one who haven't noticed lol :)

I know in the movie that Steve appears to still be in the main barracks when Erskine speaks to him, but with Olivia there and with her knowledge of the procedure, with the intention to talk to him about it, I felt like Erskine would arrange for Steve to have just a bit more privacy so no other soldiers would overhear the sensitive information she might share with him ;)

Timeline for this chapter:  
Steve is selected for Phase Two/the night before the procedure - June 21st 1943

Some notes on reviews...

Oh god, Howard. Lol, we may see just a tiny hint of jealous Steve but Olivia is very quick to set things straight ;)

Olivia's height will be mentioned in a later chapter a little more in depth. But for now, I can say, pre-serum she was a little smaller than pre-serum Steve, probably up to about his nose. I imagine her illnesses and allergies keeping her from really being able to grow normally so she was quite small. Peggy also would have supported her and helped her get around a time or two so I picture her being small enough where an average woman would be able to help with not much difficulty. Her height post-serum would be just a few inches taller than Peggy but she prefers to wear flats and Peggy heels so they appear almost the same height in that situation. If she wears small heels or boots she's just a bit shorter than post-serum Steve where, perhaps, the top of her hair is even with his forehead. Post-Serum Olivia compared to pre-serum Steve, she maybe appears to be a head (or just a little less) taller than Steve :) Lol, it's not weird at all, I can definitely see the men coming up with that sort of code for Olivia, especially since everyone tends to go with 'Liv' that it would be something they would think to do with the first half of her name instead, sort of showing that she's part of the gang but the gang itself is a world of its own. There will actually be a reference in a future chapter to a sort of attempt to tease Olivia's name and Steve may or may not try to shoot it down ;)

Thank you for pointing that out about the vehicles! I'm really so terrible at identifying them. The extent of my knowledge is literally '...it's a car?' when people ask. And then it increases to 'well it's x color and small?' which, you can imagine, frustrates my mechanic/car fanatic father and brother quite a bit lol. They'll be like 'was it a van? a jeep? a truck?' And I'm just like '...it had four wheels.' Lol, but thank you! I'll work on fixing those :)

Oh yes, there will be quite a reaction once Steve steps out of the pod, from both sides ;)


	5. Project Rebirth: Phase Two

Project Rebirth: Phase Two

Peggy couldn't help but smirk to herself as she sat in a small car with Olivia and Steve, the two in the back with her in the front beside the officer driving them to the experiment's location. It was quite funny to her to watch through the rear-view mirror as both Steve and Olivia seemed to fidget and squirm with a sort of nervous energy. It didn't escape her how the two kept throwing small glances at the other when they thought they weren't being observed.

It was sweet.

Steve was a good man, and, perhaps in a different life and light, she might have found herself interested in him as something of a suitor. He _was_ her type, she could admit that much, she had always favored men with lighter hair and eyes, as did Olivia she'd learned during their adolescence when they would giggle over boys. But she could see how much Olivia fancied him, even if the woman refused to admit it. Olivia hadn't had much chance to court any of the boys in their town, not that the boys had come running to call on her either. She had always pushed off the thought of dating anyone, claiming when she was healthier she would, because it wouldn't be fair to be with someone when they'd end up having to take care of her half the time. That moment never arose, her health only seemed to get worse.

SHE had more experience with men than Olivia had, she'd at least gotten to an engagement, had kissed a boy, courted a handful as she grew older. The only man in Olivia's life had been Michael, and he was more a brother to her than anything. If Olivia truly liked Steve Rogers, she was never going to stand in the way of that, after all her friend had been through, she deserved whatever she wanted. It was funny, how having a friend interested in someone seemed to automatically remove any possible attraction one might have to them. It was also quite entertaining to her because she had never gotten to tease Olivia over the boys she might like even though the girl had teased HER quite frequently. Now, though, she was not about to let the opportunity pass to tease her friend, but...also, she was not about to let the girl lose her chance. Olivia hadn't been around many boys she truly liked, so it was her duty, as best mate, to help the girl out, nudge them both as she had a strong inkling that Steve didn't have much experience around girls either.

She could understand, as she watched Olivia's cheeks pinken when she'd caught Steve glancing at her a moment ago, why Olivia might have taken a fancy to the lad. They had both gone through, and were about to go through, quite similar experiences. They had both been ill for most of their lives, and were both going to go through the process of Dr. Erskine's serum, expected to be soldiers to lead the war. And Olivia had never been one to base interest on physical appearances either, she preferred to get to know people first, never wanting to judge a book by its cover.

"I know this neighborhood," Steve began to talk, if just for something to break the silence, "I got beat up in that alley," he nodded out the window as they passed it, "And that parking lot. And behind that diner."

While it was a terrible thing to hear about, it did prove to Peggy yet another similarity between Steve and Olivia, both had clearly gotten picked on and tormented as children. While the boys and girls in their town hadn't been quite so vicious as to beat up the girl, likely because she was a girl, it hadn't stopped them from being cruel to her. Olivia was by no means weak, but she hadn't always been able to fight back to stop them physically or even willing to fight back at all sometimes. Olivia always stopped her and Michael from going to their parents whenever the school children would steal her books or push her in the dirt, or trip her or taunt her. They could be just as harsh with their words as she was sure Steve's own bullies had been with their fists. They looked for the weakest among them and put a target on her. It hadn't been until Olivia's health truly grew terrible, till some of her growing allergies made it impossible for her to attend classes as normal and her mother got her a tutor, that she was able to escape the torment.

They both had hard experiences with those who were strong picking on the weak instead of helping them. She didn't know about Steve, but Olivia had at least had her and Michael to watch out for her.

"Did you have something against running away?" Peggy remarked, turning slightly in her seat to glance at Steve, trying to get a better idea of the boy.

She had done her own observations of him, not as extensive as Olivia had, but she felt she had a good idea of what sort of person he was. He wouldn't be a part of this procedure if he wasn't a good man. But she wanted to know more about what he was like. If he had any interest in Olivia at all, and she was quite sure he did even if he hadn't made outward remarks about it, she needed to know he would be good for her best mate.

"You start running they'll never let you stop," Steve answered with a shrug, "You stand up, push back. Can't say no forever, right?"

"You defend yourself," Olivia murmured, in thought, "Because the moment you attack first, you become no better than them."

"Exactly," Steve nodded, smiling a little at Olivia's words, agreeing with her fully. He stood up for himself, and for those who needed it, but he always tried not to be the one initiating the fight or attacking for no reason.

"I know a little of what that's like," Peggy agreed, "To have every door shut in your face but needing to take the higher road each time."

"I know why Liv joined the troops," Steve remarked after a moment, unable to help but eye Peggy as though she were a puzzle, "But I don't know why you'd wanna join the army? Surely a woman such as yourself couldn't have had that many doors shut in her face."

Peggy let out a small laugh at that, looking between the two, "He's calling you Liv, is he?" she teased her friend.

"Uh, Major Williams," Steve tried to salvage, misunderstanding Peggy's remark as a mistake on his part for being too informal, "I um, I meant no disrespect. I shouldn't have called her Liv. It would be better to call her Olivia, no, actually, that's probably worse. Not that...not that Olivia isn't a beautiful name. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl, am I right?" he winced at that, flushing, "No, no, I didn't mean that. I mean, you ARE an attractive woman but that's not relevant here and..."

Peggy laughed more this time, "You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" she let out a faux sigh, "Not that Liv is any better speaking to men..."

"Stop it," Olivia muttered, blushing.

"We've um, we've had conversations before," Steve offered, clearing his throat, sounding more like he was trying to help take the focus off Olivia as the girl began to look down at her hands, clearly embarrassed.

"Yes, I know," Peggy reassured him, "What was your first one again, Liv?" she looked at the girl, "A recount of your various medical ailments? Romantic."

"Stop," Olivia nearly groaned, hiding her face with her hands.

She knew Peggy could be quite serious and very down to business when she was on an assignment or standing before the other recruits, and often was. But it was like, at times, just being there with her best mate reminded Peggy that they WERE friends and able to tease each other, that Peggy could be herself and be a woman and not have to worry about how the person talking with her saw her. She also knew this was exactly what Peggy had done to her before her own procedure with Dr. Erskine. She had been _so nervous_ , she'd even made herself sick over it. Peggy had taken to trying to calm her down by distracting her, teasing her, joking with her, anything at all to ease her mind and make her laugh.

It appeared Peggy was implimenting the same here with Steve. The man was hiding his nerves quite well, if Olivia had to remark on it, but she knew how nervous he'd been last night and had mentioned it to Peggy. She was sure, had she not been there or told her, had Peggy not witnessed how truly fearful SHE had been the hours before Phase One began, Peggy wouldn't have made any such remark beyond small talk with the boy.

"That was my fault," Steve continued to try and defend, something Peggy appreciated about him, "I asked her about stomach ulcers," he sighed, shaking his head at the memory. He was sure now, Bucky wouldn't have just punched his arm for that, he would have gotten him in a light chokehold and dragged him away for it, "I'll admit, I haven't had many conversations with women, they aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on."

"You must have danced?" Peggy remarked.

"Well, asking a woman to dance always seems so terrifying."

"You're more frightened of asking a woman to dance than taking part in an experimental procedure that could kill you?" Peggy gave him a critical look, though she sounded almost pleased to hear it. A man afraid of insulting or offending a woman was one who had respect for them.

"It sounds crazy, I know but..."

"No, it sounds quite sweet," Peggy cut in with a reassuring smile.

"Anyway," Steve shrugged it off, "The past few years...it just didn't seem to matter that much. Figured I'd wait."

"Wait for what?" Olivia asked gently.

Steve glanced at her, not even seeming to notice the small smile that grew on his face as he did so, "The right partner."

He couldn't help the way his mind drifted back to his last abysmal attempt at a date. Bucky had set them up with two girls, he hadn't exactly been thrilled to be there after getting rejected by yet another enlistment site. But he'd gone along with it, been polite, tried to give the girl a good time. She hadn't exactly seemed happy to be stuck with him either, scoffing at him when he offered her some snacks, frowning and shaking her head, swooning over Bucky. He hadn't really given much thought to it since it happened. In a way he expected the girl to be more interested in Bucky than himself, and he hadn't exactly cared much, too focused on trying to get into the army. But thinking on it now...that girl, the way she reacted to him, how she treated him and not even given him a proper chance? He couldn't see a girl like her being the right one for him.

He would want someone who didn't judge him based on what he looked like or his health. Someone who took time to get to know him, to actually TALK to him and understand his interests and thoughts. He wanted someone who would look at him and not see some scrawny would-be soldier but a good man who just wanted to make a difference. Someone who would actually support his decision to join the army and believe in him. Someone who was kind to others, who didn't have a cruel bone in their body, Lord knew he dealt with enough bullies in his life. Someone who found him funny and liked being around him, someone...who cared.

He blinked as he continued to look at Olivia, knowing he should probably look away from her as it wasn't polite to stare but...some part of him just wouldn't let him. He felt he breath leave him as his thoughts echoed in his head, all the things he would have wanted in a girl and how they stacked up against Olivia sinking in. He felt like he couldn't breathe, his heart racing, when she smiled at him for his words, actually smiled at HIM.

She had a beautiful smile...

Peggy nodded to herself as she noticed the way Steve gazed at Olivia, the man certainly DID fancy her friend, she was sure of it now, "Well, perhaps when this is all done with, I imagine there would be a celebration of some sort," she reasoned, "A new advantage in the war. You could dance then."

"Peggy..." Olivia whispered at her, shaking her head with a pointed look, knowing Peggy meant the two 'super soldiers' to be the dance partners.

Steve frowned, seeing the move, shaking himself from his thoughts, "What is it?"

Olivia sighed, glancing over, not wanting him to get the wrong idea that she didn't want to dance with him like the women he was afraid of asking, "I can't dance."

"She's rubbish."

"Yes, thank you Peggy," Olivia shot Peggy a look before turning back to Steve, "It's just...I've never been asked, so I never needed to learn."

Steve opened his mouth, as though he were about to comment on how impossible that sounded, that a woman like her _wouldn't_ be asked...before his gaze flickered to her armband, to where he knew her picture was hidden, and remembered she hadn't always looked this way. A lot of people tended to base what they thought of someone on appearance. And Olivia had looked then like he did now, from what he saw in the picture. He could imagine some more visually oriented men had overlooked her.

He wished he had been there, so he could have asked her to dance because something inside him told him Olivia would have accepted. With that in mind he promised himself he would do just that the very next chance he got.

The women looked over as the car pulled to a stop, to see they were in front of an antique shop.

"This way," Peggy murmured, getting out of the car with Olivia, Steve following, and leading them into the shop.

"What are we doing here?" Steve asked.

"You'll see," Olivia gave him a reassuring smile, moving to open the door, only for Steve to quickly do it instead, gesturing them on, ever the gentleman.

"Wonderful weather this morning isn't it?" the owner of the shop, an old woman, greeted them as they stepped inside, moving herself in from a back room.

"Yes," Peggy approached, "But I always carry an umbrella."

The owner gave her a pointed nod, which she returned, before she moved over to the main counter, pressing a button on the side of it. Peggy turned to lead them into the back room, to a wall of book shelves, waiting just a moment before they opened to reveal a hallway with a few uniformed men and women within. Peggy began to walk again, leading them through a set of doors and into a rather high-tech laboratory where Dr. Erskine and his team all froze in where they were examining machinery to look up at them, a pod resting in the middle of the room.

Dr. Erskine gave them a wide smile, quickly gesturing the others to continue as he made his way over to them while they headed down a set of steps into the lab. He reached out to pull Olivia into a tight hug, "My dear, my dear," he mumbled, pulling away to smile at her. He turned and reached out to shake Peggy's hand, "Agent Carter," he greeted and beamed when he saw Steve standing there, "Good morning!" he shook Steve's hand, glaring back when a flash of light went off, a photographer had snapped a picture of them, "Please, not now," he gestured for the photographer to step away, which the man did, giving a nod of respect. He looked back over to Steve, who was eyeing the pod with a wary expression, "Are you ready?" Steve gave a brief nod, "Good. Take off your shirt, your tie, and your hat."

Olivia stood off to the side, next Peggy, as they watched the goings-on. She was quite thankful, thinking back to her own procedure, that she had been allowed to keep at least an undershirt on to preserve her modesty. Not that it helped very much once the pod had opened for she had grown quite a bit in many areas, but Peggy had been very quick to take the jacket off of her own back and drape it over her friend to help. They were somewhat the same size now.

She glanced over her shoulder and up, at an observation chamber filled with many different military officials. She could see the colonel among the different men, all of them talking quite frantically while they looked down upon the lab. She didn't look away until she felt a gentle hand on her arm and turned to see Peggy giving her a concerned look, "What?"

"He is going to be just fine," Peggy reassured her, "It's the same procedure as yours, and you came out exactly as they hoped."

"I know," Olivia mumbled, "But I know Dr. Erskine was saying he wasn't sure how the serum would affect a male specimen as opposed to a female. What if something goes wrong?"

"Then I suppose it's a good thing you're here," Peggy offered, "If anything goes wrong, you would be able to pry that pod open."

Olivia felt her attention being drawn back to the observation deck once more, a deep frown on her face.

Peggy glanced back as well and gave her friend a concerned look, "What is it?" she asked under her breath.

"I can hear them," Olivia murmured, turning away from the observation deck so it wouldn't be an obvious that she was listening in. It still shocked her at times to be able to hear out of her once-damaged ear.

"What are they saying?"

'Colonel Phillips is complaining about how they're tapping into the City's power grid because Senator Brant would not give him generators. The senator is complaining about the funds, and the state department Representatives is here. And..." she trailed off a moment, a frown on her face, "They think Steve is too skinny."

"He won't be for long," Peggy remarked, nodding her head towards the pod as Steve climbed into it and laid down.

The procedure was about to begin.

Olivia looked at Peggy for a moment, the woman nodding her head over to the pod with more firmness, more pointedly. Olivia gave a single nod in response and turned to join Dr. Erskine at the side of it, looking down into it at Steve.

"Comfortable?" the doctor asked.

"It's a little big," Steve answered, "You save me any of that schnapps?"

The doctor chuckled, "Not as much as I should have. Sorry. Next time," he looked over at another man who was reading the levels on a scanner, "Mr. Stark, how are your levels?"

"Levels at 100 percent," Stark called back.

"Good."

"Hello Howard," Olivia gave the man a small nod in greeting, he had been present to assist during her own procedure as well.

"Dollface," Stark greeted in return with a smirk.

Olivia shook her head at that and looked down at Steve, "Everything will be just fine," she promised, "Just remember to keep breathing and keep focused."

"Are we ready?" the doctor called out to his attendants.

Stark nodded, "We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn, but we are ready as we'll ever be."

The doctor looked over at Olivia as she stepped away from the pod and over to Peggy's side. He noticed how the agent reached out to wind an arm around Olivia's shoulder, the Major standing there with her arms crossed almost as though hugging herself. He couldn't help the small smile that grew on his face when he saw her clear and obvious concern for Steve. He nodded to himself, even more proof that he had made the right choice for Phase One. All that concern for other people and their well-being, strengthened by the serum.

"Agent Carter?" the doctor called out, "Don't you think you and Major Williams would be more comfortable in the booth?" Major Williams could not be moved if there was someone she was worried about, but if there was any chance of convincing her to do so it would be through Agent Carter.

"Oh, yes," Peggy mumbled, turning to give Olivia a pointed look, "Of course. Standard procedure," she reminded the woman, knowing she would never want to do anything that could compromise the experiment or jeopardize Steve.

"Yes, sorry," Olivia gave the man an apologetic smile, turning to step away with Peggy to a more secure location.

"Good, good," the doctor nodded to himself. He pulled out a small microphone and turned it on, ready to record the results of this experiment on a male specimen, "Do you hear me? Is this on? Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. We begin with a series of micro injections into the subjects major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays."

Steve scrunched his eyes shut as he was injected with something into his arm, peeking one open and then letting out a breath of relief when it was done, "That wasn't so bad," he smiled up at the doctor.

Dr. Erskine could only give him a grim smile in return, "That was penicillin," he told the boy quietly, before turning to address the others into the microphone, "Serum infusion beginning in five, four, three, two, one..."

Olivia flinched as she watched a series of needles that were stationed along the inside of the pod stabbing down into Steve's arms and legs, injecting him with the serum. It didn't look like much, it wouldn't hurt right at that moment, but she knew exactly what sort of pain and agony would be coming in mere moments.

"Now, Mr. Stark!" the doctor called out and Stark pulled a lever, activating the pod to stand upright and shut, locking Steve inside of it. Dr. Erskine stepped up to it once it was stable, knocking on it quickly, "Steven, can you hear me?"

"It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?" was Steve's muffled response, which drew a quirked lip from Olivia, the only one able to hear it from across the room.

Dr. Erskine smiled at it regardless and turned to start once more, "We will proceed."

Stark gave a nod and made his way over to the controls, clearly the one who would be manning them, "That's ten percent," the man called out, watching levels as they rose while the machines powered up, "Twenty percent. Thirty. That's forty percent..."

Olivia curled her hands into fists, squeezing them tighter as though remembering her own time in the pod. She could remember hearing them calling out about the percentages, forty hadn't been too bad but soon enough...

"Vital signs are normal," another attendant reported.

"That's fifty percent," Stark read out, "Sixty. Seventy."

Olivia had to close her eyes when Steve started screaming, the pain kicking in, the Vita-Rays had activated.

"Steven!" Dr. Erskine called out, moving closer to the pod, trying to see in but the Rays were too bright. It took everything Olivia had not to call out for them to shut down the experiment, she could feel Peggy gripping her arm tightly as the woman struggled not to do the same, "Steven!" the doctor knocked on the pod, but there was no response other than the screams. He glanced back across the room, spotting Olivia and her concerned expression. She had at least called out when he knocked on the pod for her. It was possible this _was_ reacting to Steve in a far different manner, "Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark! Turn it off! Kill it! Kill the reactor!"

"No!" finally there was a response from Steve, "Don't! I can do this!"

Olivia let out a relieved breath to hear him talking, he was taking her advice and pushing through it no matter what.

"Eighty," Stark reported, his eyes fixed on the levels, they were _so close_ , "Ninety. That's a hundred percent!"

Not even a moment later the machines seemed to overload, the reactor shutting itself down as it was overpowered. Stark didn't hesitate to run over towards the pod, working to get it open, knowing that, with all the power down, so was the oxygen they'd been pumping in.

"Mr. Stark?" the doctor stepped away to give him a clear path, Olivia began to rush down into the room herself, ready to help in case the pod was still locked. But just as she got within a few feet it began to open with a hiss, steam coming out the bottom.

And there, revealed to everyone, standing in only tan pants that clearly did not fit him any longer, was Steve Rogers, transformed into a true super soldier. Taller, stronger, healthier, exactly as the experiment had hoped.

"Oh my," Olivia murmured to herself as she came to a stop just before the pod, just a little startled. Well, there was one difference between her procedure and his, she had certainly not looked quite that muscular. Even now, she appeared more athletic, fit, lean, not quite muscular but still with every bit of strength the serum could afford her. Steve, however, was...well...wow.

"Steven?" the doctor stepped forward, reaching for Steve as the man appeared unconscious, "Steven."

Olivia jolted forward out of her thoughts, catching Steve as he stumbled out of the pod, disoriented upon waking, knowing, with his new physique, the others around might have trouble helping support him. She braced her hands on either side of his chest to keep him upright, not about to let go until he was stable on his feet, glancing over her shoulder when she saw those from the observation deck flooding into the room. She looked back at him, "Steve?"

Steve was panting somewhat, his eyes still closed, almost as though he couldn't believe he was still there. He took a deep breath, his lips cracking up when he realized, just as Olivia had, that he _could_ breathe now. He looked up, his eyes fluttering open, "I did it..." he looked as though he were about to say something more, but whatever it was seem to have been lost when his eyes met Olivia's, "Wow..." he breathed, unintentionally repeating her own thoughts.

It hadn't been something that came up when they had been listing their medical ailments, it was in his file though, that he had an astigmatism. His eyesight wasn't very good. He didn't need glasses, or if he did he refused to wear them, not wanting to be a bigger target for the bullies. But he didn't see things as clearly as he would have liked. Standing there now, it was obvious to him that the serum had improved even his eyesight. Because he could see Olivia in crystal clarity.

She was beautiful.

"...uh, taller," he mumbled, feeling like his cheeks were getting pinker the longer he stared at her as she stood before him.

He was almost eye to eye with her, being a little taller than her now, which was something as he had been almost a head shorter than her before. And it was like...the colors were brighter around him, it could have been the lights or his new eyesight, but her hair was shining and her eyes were such a rich brown, she had the lightest freckles he'd ever seen scattered across her nose. And her smile was even more stunning than in the car seeing it this close. And she _was_ close, he realized, only about half a foot of space between them as she had her hands pressed on his shoulders for more support. As soon as he realized she was touching his bare chest, he quickly straightened and stepped away, sure his cheeks were now flaming...probably his entire chest too since he didn't have his shirt on.

Dr. Erskine laughed as he came to stand beside them, reaching out to pat Steve on the shoulder, "Yeah, yeah. I think we did it."

"I don't know," Stark remarked, eyeing Steve up and down, before his gaze flickered to Olivia, "I think it works better on the gals."

Peggy rolled her eyes at Stark's words and stepped closer to Steve, beside of Olivia, "How do you feel?"

Steve took a moment to consider her question, before smiling at Olivia, "I can breathe."

Olivia smiled in return and nodded at that, seeing that he remembered what she had said about her first thoughts after the experiment. He'd actually paid attention to her when she spoke, that was something new to experience outside of Peggy, Michael, or Dr. Erskine.

"How do you like Brooklyn now, Senator?" the colonel was asking as he approached with Senator Brandt, another scientist reaching out to hand Steve a white shirt to put on in the presence of the government officials.

"I can think of some folks in Berlin who are about to get _very_ nervous," the senator answered, reaching out a hand to shake Dr. Erskine's, "Congratulations, Doctor."

Dr. Erskine's smile widened, shaking the man's hand even as his gaze looked between Olivia and Steve, knowing he had truly been able to do his part and stop the terror that was this war, "Thank you, sir."

The two new super soldiers had only just turned to give each other another smile, neither seeming to look away from the other for long, realizing that, with this completion of Phase Two, knowing how it affected either gender, more soldiers would be able to come into this war and help to end it...when something went off in the observation room, exploding and sending shards of glass and metal and debris falling on top of them.

Olivia gasped, still not quite use to having sharpened reactions, not having trained as a soldier, and found herself pulled into Steve's arms as he turned his back on the explosion to shield her. It gave her the perfect angle to see one of the other men that had been observing it all grabbing a vial of the serum and rushing for the door, "Thief! she shouted, alerting those around her to the fact that the man was trying to steal government secrets.

"Stop him!" Dr. Erskine cried, looking as though he were about to start after the man himself, when the thief merely turned and shot the scientist in the chest.

Olivia ran to his side, quickly putting pressure on the wound as the man fell onto his back, Peggy taking off after the thief with a few others. She hadn't brought any of her medical supplies with her, she hadn't expected anything like this to happen, it was all kept under the closest of secrets. She looked up when someone else knelt on the other side of Dr. Erskine, to see Steve had joined them. She called out for a towel or anything that could help apply pressure to the wound, to help stop the bleeding, when she felt Dr. Erskine move beneath her hand. She looked back down as the man merely pointed between the two of them and tapped a finger against Steve's chest before he collapsed.

"He's still breathing," Olivia murmured, looking to Steve, "But if that man gets away with the serum..."

Steve nodded, his expression hard as he pushed himself to his feet, rushing after the man while Olivia focused on trying to keep Dr. Erskine with them...

~8~

Olivia burst onto the streets not even two minutes later, Dr. Erskine's blood on her hands, tears in her eyes. The gunshot had been too carefully aimed, the man hadn't lasted more than a minute before his breathing had stopped despite her best efforts to tend to him.

"Liv!" Peggy shouted and Olivia looked up to see the woman rushing over, "Dr. Erskine?"

Olivia shook her head, unable to say it. She looked up and down the road, "Steve?"

"That way," Peggy pointed in the direction the cab she'd shot at had gone, the direction Steve had given chase on foot in, "He's going to need help."

Olivia swallowed hard but nodded, hurrying after Steve and pulling her heels off as she went, not trusting herself to be able to run in them. She could barely walk in them after all. Of all the days she wasn't allowed to cheat on her uniform and wear her preferred flats. She had to catch up to Steve and quickly, he didn't know his own strength right now. He could hurt himself or others if he wasn't careful.

As fast as she was, it was clear to her that she hadn't been fast enough. She caught up with Steve, only to find him staring down in a confused horror at the thief who was foaming at the mouth on the docks just beside the river. She walked over, reaching out to touch his arm gently so he wouldn't be startled, and knelt beside the man, checking him. He had no pulse and a quick touch and sniff of the foam revealed it had been cyanide poisoning.

"He's gone," Olivia murmured, standing again and looking at Steve, her gaze immediately drawn to red soaking into the side of his shirt, "You're hurt..."

"He had a hostage," Steve remarked, sounding half in shock.

"Was the hostage..."

Steve shook his head, seeming to start coming around, "He's fine."

"Did he say anything before he..."

"That he was the first of many," Steve answered, looking over at her, "That if we cut off one head, two more will take its place. He said 'Hail HYDRA!' before he did that. I caught him in the water," he continued, "Got him pinned but the serum vial broke. There's nothing left."

Olivia glanced back, hearing a noise to see some SSR agents driving up in cars to block the growing crowd from getting closer. She looked down a moment later when she felt someone take her hand to see Steve staring at her hands.

"It's not mine," she spoke quietly, a crack in her voice.

"Is he..." Steve began, but Olivia didn't need him to finish his sentence to know what he was asking.

"Yes," she told him.

Steve nodded, swallowing hard at the knowledge that Dr. Erskine was dead.

A/N: For just a moment I was lamenting that I didn't choose to do Athena's Infinity War story first and hold off on Olivia, to try and start the story closer to the 4th of July, Steve's birthday, and an American holiday for a Captain America story. But now I'm quite happy that I did post Olivia when I did. I literally got the birth of Captain America on my birthday, in the story at least, lol :)

As much as I wanted both Olivia and Steve to go after the spy, I couldn't see Olivia leaving Erskine without trying to do all she could to save him first :( But at least we got a bit of shirtless Steve for her to be a little startled at lol :) Too bad that darn spy had to disrupt everything :/

Timeline for this chapter:  
Phase Two is completed/Erskine dies - June 22nd, 1943

Some notes on reviews...

Oh Bucky's going to have quite a few thoughts on Steve and Olivia as the story goes ;) I actually wondered that too, what happened to the Schnapps? Did Steve ever get to try some? We know he can't get drunk, but he could still enjoy the taste :) We'll actually see a brief mention of the Schnapps again and even Olivia's take on alcohol :)

Lol, Olivia definitely got an eyeful and a touchful of Steve post-serum ;) ;)

Steve was born July 4th of 1918 according to the film (though in the comic-verse he was born in 1920), but since this follows the film we're going to go with 1918. So he was just shy of 2 weeks away from turning 25 in this chapter. So 24 right now, but turning 25 very soon. Just to add, Bucky was born March 10, 1917, so he is about 26 by this point. Olivia, in my head, was born within a month or two of Peggy. Peggy was born April 9th 1921 which makes her 22 here. I picture Olivia to be born May 27th 1921, so she's 22 as well but has only been 22 for barely a month by the time this chapter happens :)


	6. The Faces of the Nations

The Faces of the Nations

It was silent and grim in the small office above the makeshift lab where the experiment had taken place. Steve was sitting on a small medical examination table, Olivia standing beside him in rubber gloves with a small needle in her hand as she drew blood from his arm, the same procedure that had been done to her shortly after her own part in Project Rebirth. Normally the blood would be taken just to reexamine, as a comparison to the first samples taken before the experiment. It was used to double-check that all previous diseases, abnormalities, or weaknesses in the blood had been fixed by the serum. But she knew, for Steve, there would be another reason behind needing his blood. He had been recently infused with the serum and, upon reporting back that the vial that had been stolen was destroyed, his blood contained more traces of the serum than hers did. It was meant to assimilate with the blood, fuse with it and become indistinguishable, lasting.

This might be their only chance to find the code behind the serum once more.

Steve glanced down at his arm when he felt Olivia removing the tourniquet from it, "Think you got enough?"

Olivia could only give him a soft smile, "Standard procedure," she told him, placing a small bandage over the draw site, "Plus a little more, unfortunately. Here," she turned to pick up a small plate with some crackers and cookies on it, turning to offer him one, "I'm sure you know it's for..."

"Blood sugar," Steve said at the same time as her, cracking the first small smile he had made since he went after the spy and failed, taking a cookie from the plate and popping it, whole, into his mouth.

"We _are_ sorry to take so much," Peggy remarked from where she was standing across the room, observing the procedure. There was no one she trusted more to draw the blood than Olivia. With the serum at play, it could be tricky to put enough force behind the needle to get it to go where a nurse would need it to without harming him. Olivia had been poked quite a bit by the nurses after her procedure, hadn't said a word about it during, desensitized to needles poking her in general, but had mentioned the nurses' struggles afterwards to her. Olivia would know how to do it best, "Any hope of reproducing the program is locked in your genetic code. But, without Dr. Erskine, it could take years."

Steve sighed, his gaze drawn to the window that looked down upon the makeshift lab, "He deserved more than this."

"I should have noticed something," Olivia murmured, "I was in the same room as that spy, I should have heard a trace of an accent, anything."

"It's not your fault," Steve turned to reassure her at the same time as Peggy spoke, "I was there too."

Peggy looked between two super soldiers standing there, both blaming themselves for what happened, "If it could only work this way, he'd be _proud_ it was the both of you."

Olivia turned to her friend, cracking a small smile for her words, "Thank you, Peg."

Peggy gave them a nod, before gesturing for them to follow her as she stepped out of the room, heading down the stairs towards where a handful of government officials who had been present during the experiment were gathered. The underwater device that the spy had tried to flee in was stationed in the middle of the room, Howard Stark examining it while they spoke quietly.

"...best mechanical engineer in this country," Stark was saying to the men, "But _I_ don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even _close_ to this technology."

"Then who is?" Senator Brant asked.

"HYDRA," the colonel responded with a sharp edge in his tone, "I'm sure you've been reading our briefings."

"I'm on a number of committees, Colonel."

"HYDRA is the Nazi deep science division," Peggy called as they reached the men, "It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions."

"He was the one who tried to force Dr. Erskine to work with the Nazis," Olivia informed as well, recalling that information from things Dr. Erskine had mentioned to her.

The colonel nodded, "HYDRA's practically a cult. They worship Schmidt, they think he's invincible."

The Senator scoffed, "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"Spoke to the President this morning. As of today, the SSR is being retasked."

Peggy frowned at that, "Colonel?"

The colonel just gave a smile, "We are taking the fight to HYDRA. Pack your bags Agent Carter, Major Williams, you too, Stark. You're flying back to London tonight."

"London?" Olivia frowned, looking at the men, "But, as I understood, I was to remain here, to help train with Steve after the experiment's completion."

"Plans change. With the death of Dr. Erskine on U.S. ground, you've been recalled to your country, seems they don't trust us to keep you safe."

"There is _nothing_ safe about war," Olivia argued passionately, "I was to be on the field, with the other medics, how is that less dangerous than..."

"Look, it isn't my decision to make, your government wants you back, same as our government keeps him here," the colonel nodded at Steve.

Steve frowned at that, at the implication, "Sir, if you're going after Schmidt, I want in."

The colonel shook his head, "You're an experiment. You're going to Alamogordo."

"The serum worked!"

"I asked for an army and all I got left is you. You are not enough."

Olivia reached out and put a hand on Steve's arm, knowing how much those words must have hurt him. She understood the colonel was frustrated and likely under a lot of pressure from his government after the events of yesterday, but there was no call for words such as that. She and Steve had given much to this war effort, risking their lives for this procedure. They were all the governments had and they should be utilized to their full potential, not hidden away.

No one else should be able to determine a person's worth in such a way.

"With all due respect to the Colonel," the senator cut in, "I think we may be missing the point. I've seen you in action, Rogers. More importantly, the country's seen it," he turned, gesturing to one of his assistants, "Paper."

He held up a newspaper, the 'New York Examiner,' to show a headline that the Nazis were in New York, but a mysterious man saved them from it. It was Steve, having gone after the spy, and been caught on camera in action before Olivia had reached him.

"The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands. You don't take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab. Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war?"

"Sir," Steve nodded, "That's all I want."

"Then congratulations," the senator shook his hand, "You just got promoted. My people will be in touch."

Steve saluted as the man walked off with his assistants to make plans. He looks over when Peggy stepped away with the colonel, speaking quietly with the man though looking quite displeased. Olivia was watching them with a solemn look, and he realized he could _hear them_ too. Peggy was arguing that they should stay in New York, to help Steve adapt to his new abilities. But the colonel wasn't having it.

He stepped over to Olivia, placing a gentle hand on the small of her back to lead her away, towards the wall where they could talk a little bit more privately.

"It doesn't look like I have much a choice," Olivia murmured, looking up at Steve, "I really did want to help."

"It'll be alright," Steve tried to reassure her, "I got a little taste of what abilities you were talking about, when I was going after that spy. I was jumping over fences, running faster than I've ever run before, and I was much stronger than I think anyone has ever been. I'm sure I can work out the rest somehow."

Olivia sighed, "I know you will, you're a brilliant man," she told him, "I just worry for the actual training portion. That was something they held back a little bit with me after Phase One. They could test my strength all they wanted, but it was hard to actually teach me any combat or what to do, when there was always that danger I might hurt the person training me. You're right, we are much stronger than many others. I had hoped, working together a little more, we could help teach each other."

"I'm not sure how much I could teach you," Steve answered humbly, "You're pretty amazing," his eyes widened as he realized what he had said, "I mean...I just...you went through this a while ago, you must have had plenty of time and opportunities to work out a lot of what's changed. That couldn't have been easy. If you could work that out, I'm sure you could work out anything. You don't need me."

Olivia reached down and gently touched his hand, "Oh I don't know about that. I could perhaps do with a few more lessons on how to, how did you phrase it, push back?" she gave him a teasing look, "I've never been in a physical fight before," she admitted to him, "Not like you..."

"I wouldn't call getting beaten up as being in a fight," Steve joked just a little bit, actually chuckling now at the memory, "But I can see your point, if I tried to punch any of those bullies now..." he shrugged. He could only imagine the damage he would do just based on how strong he had gotten in other fields.

"I'll try to get them to let me come back," Olivia told him, "If they wanted soldiers, they need to let us _be_ soldiers, and we can't do that if we can't train."

Steve nodded, his lip quirking into a smile, "Yeah," he agreed, "They can't keep us apart forever."

Before he could bumble his way through a stuttered explanation of what he meant by his last words, Peggy had approached them.

The woman looked between them, noting the faint pink that was staining their cheeks, and couldn't help the smirk that grew on her face, though she tried her best to keep it small. She glanced down for just a moment, having to bite the inside of her lip at the sight of something else, before she spoke, "I'm afraid I can't change their mind," she told them, "Liv, we leave for London in only a few hours, we need to go prepare. I'll give you two a minute," she offered, before stepping back.

Peggy made to look like she was taking in the underwater device, though she kept the two super soldiers in her line of sight, out of the corner of her eye. She watched as the two seemed to murmur goodbyes to each other, before Olivia reached out and gave the man a tight hug. She smiled softly at the sight, recalling how long it had taken the girl to give _her_ a hug after Phase One. But she's supposed Olivia felt more secure hugging Steve, the man was far less breakable now.

She wondered, idly, if either of them realized they had been standing there holding hands since before she approached them...

~8~

The promotion, as it turned out, was certainly _not_ what Steve had had in mind when the senator brought it up to him. The man had made it seem like he would be on the front lines, leading the battles, being a true soldier for his people. What he ended up doing was the farthest thing from the front lines or being a soldier as possible. Instead of training to be an actual soldier, he was _playing one_ in staged productions. He could see how his actions were helping the war effort, the lines that he gave, the entire production, was all geared towards trying to support the troops. And it _did_ work, just not in the way he had hoped it would.

He was wearing quite a...ridiculous...costume, all decked out in red, white, and blue, as patriotic as it could ever have been. He was wearing a mask, because the soldiers wore helmets. He carried a shield, he had his own background dancers, all in red, white, and blue, all smiling, all singing songs about 'Captain America,' the man with a plan. He was supposed to sell some bonds because the bonds would buy bullets for the soldiers on the front lines to use against the Nazis. And that was all that amounted to, him trying to push bonds instead of being out on the field and helping to take out the Nazis himself. There were times where he would have to lift a motorcycle with some of the background girls sitting on it over his head, a display of strength, of America. Other times he would have to turn around and 'punch' an actor dressed like Hitler, to show America would win the war. It really wasn't at all like he imagined it would be when he was told he'd be an American Hero.

He had been promised, by the Senator's assistant, that the senator would pay him back for all his efforts. He was told, if he did this production now, that in just a few months he would be leading his own platoon. He'd been to quite a few towns, he'd even been moved overseas to speak to the Troops, but it had been 5 months now and he certainly was _not_ leading his own platoon. Unless you counted a platoon of singing showgirls.

With every production, with every show, with every day that the war dragged on with no end in sight, he couldn't help but feel more and more useless. And with every time he uttered those scripted lines and people cheered and the songs went off, he couldn't help but feel more like he was just a performing monkey.

Five months after Phase Two of Project Rebirth and he was in Italy, the closest to the front lines that he had ever been, 5 miles away from them. Instead of standing in front of an audience of citizens, he was in front of a crowd of soldiers. He felt like an utter fool to be before them in a heroic costume, knowing _they_ were the real heroes, as tired and worn and beaten down as they all appeared to be. They weren't quite as receptive to his act as they were to the showgirls being around and paraded in front of them.

He hadn't been sure what to expect from the soldiers. Back in the States, people wanted his autograph, he was in film advertisements, comic books were being made about Captain America, people seemed to really enjoy the show. They were the only ones who enjoyed the show though, he would have given _anything_ to trade places with any of the men that had been sitting before him. The soldiers, it seemed, were not as enamored with Captain America as the citizens were back in the States, hecklers and those poking fun at him were quite common. He hadn't quite needed the particular heckler who decided to pull down his pants and moon him, all it had done was lead the rest of the crowd into throwing things at him.

He had gone through with the experiment in order to help his people, in order to stop bullies, and here he was being subjected to the same kind of treatment even after. But these men were also national heroes, they wanted the girls, so he'd gestured them back onstage to give them what they wanted. Truly anything he could do to help with the war effort he would, and if the men needed the girls more than him to boost their spirits he wouldn't stand in their way.

He was sitting on the edge of his latest stage long after the show had ended, just drawing a doodle in an old sketch pad he'd found, rain pouring in the background. He was depicting exactly what he felt, a monkey, doing tricks, dressed in red, white, and blue...when a voice spoke behind him.

"That's quite impressive talent."

He looked over his shoulder quickly to see Olivia was standing just behind him, looking down over his shoulder at what he was doing. He felt himself smile at the fact that she had snuck up on him. His hearing had certainly improved an enormous amount, he could usually hear anyone when they tried to pull one on him. He should have expected Olivia, of all people, would be able to manage it. She had her own experiences with better hearing.

"Hi," he greeted, looking past Olivia to see Peggy approaching as well.

"Hello," Olivia replied.

"Hello, Steve," Peggy gave a respectful nod.

"What are you doin' here?" he looked between the two of them.

"Officially we're not here at all," Peggy began with a smile that was slowly growing more into a smirk.

Olivia's eyes widened at the sight of it, "Peggy don't..."

"But someone," she gave Olivia a pointed look, "Wanted to see the performance live. It was...quite something."

Steve chuckled lightly, especially when he saw Olivia starting to blush. He was flattered to know if she was interested in coming to see him, or at least his show, "Yeah. Uh…I had to improvise a little bit. Crowds I'm used to are usually more uh…twelve."

"Oh, we know," Peggy nudged Olivia in the side.

"Peggy!" Olivia tried to hide herself behind her hands.

" _Someone_ might have also taken to keeping news clippings of other 'Captain America' performances..."

"Just..." Olivia struggled to find an excuse, "Keeping an eye on the...morale...in America."

"From what I understand, you're 'America's New Hope?'" Peggy remarked, rolling her eyes playfully at Olivia, but letting it go for the moment.

Steve shrugged, "Bond sales take a ten percent bump in every state I visit."

"Senator Brandt?" Olivia guessed the man's involvement, moving to sit beside Steve on the stage, a soft smile on her face that told him she likely knew the answer anyway.

Steve sighed, "At least he's got me doin' this. Phillips would have had me stuck in lab."

"I can imagine," Olivia offered, "The government officials in my country just move me around from place to place to give interviews and speeches. I don't know that it makes much difference or is much help, but I like to think it does _something_ at least."

"Hey," Steve reached out to take her hand, "I'm sure it does more than you know. I can't imagine anyone could listen to stories about the kids in the hospitals and not want to do something to help them."

Olivia began to nod at his remark, when his words caught up to her, "That's _exactly_ what I talk about, how do you..."

Steve's smile turned slightly bashful, his cheeks heating up just a little bit more, "You're not the only one who's keeping tabs on the uh...morale...of the other countries."

"I'm sorry," Peggy murmured, drawing their attention back to her, having been listening to them silently and feeling just awful to hear them both talking about how they'd been reduced to productions and speeches instead of living up to what the doctor had hoped for, "It never should have been like this, Dr. Erskine would have never stood for it. You two were meant for more than this, you know?"

Steve let out a thoughtful breath of air.

"What is it?" Olivia asked, absently turning her hand over from where Steve was still touching it to hold his hand more firmly.

"It's just...for the longest time I _dreamed_ about coming overseas and being on the front lines. Serving my country. I finally get everything I wanted, and I'm wearing tights."

"Well they suit you," Olivia stated, before quickly adding, "I mean...you look good in them...er, that is to say, it fits the outfit," her face was flaming now even as Steve gave a light chuckle, "It's much better than what I've been forced into," Olivia shook her head.

Peggy couldn't help but snort thinking about the uniform Olivia had been given after Captain America debuted. Once their country had seen the uniform the man was wearing, they could _not_ be upstaged. They needed their own patriotic hero.

Steve gave her a thoughtful look, "I haven't seen any news reports about that."

"It's fairly new," Olivia winced just thinking about it, "And hopefully _very_ short-lived."

Steve opened his mouth to ask her what exactly her uniform looked like that made it so bad, when someone honked a few feet away. They looked over to see an ambulance pulling up with quite a number of wounded soldiers inside.

Olivia bit her lip, wanting to go help, but she really was NOT supposed to be there just yet. Plans were supposed to be made first but she'd snuck off with Peggy when the woman had gotten assigned to coordinate with Colonel Phillips again for information.

"They look like they've been through hell," Steve murmured.

"These men more than most," Peggy agreed, "Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him and less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured."

Steve stiffened at that, looking at Peggy, alarmed, "The 107th?"

Peggy frowned at his reaction, "What?"

Olivia, however, frowned for an entirely different reason, "The 107th," she looked to Steve, recalling mention of it, "You said that regiment was..."

Steve stood quickly, nodding, "Bucky!" the two women hurried after the man as he rushed off and burst into the tent that the officials of the army were using as their base, running straight up to Colonel Phillips at he sat at one of the desks, discussing something with another soldier, "Colonel Phillips..."

"Well, if it isn't the Star-Spangled Man With A Plan," the colonel responded in a very dry way, barely even looking up at Steve despite the fact that the man was clearly concerned about something, "And what is your plan today?"

"I need the casualty list from Azzano."

This time he finally looked up, his expression even more grim and disappointed when he saw Olivia standing there too. He fixed Steve with a firm look, "You don't get to give me orders, son."

Steve shook his head, not backing down, "I just need one name. Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th."

Instead of answering, the colonel turned and pointed a finger at Peggy, "You and I are gonna have a conversation later that you won't enjoy."

"Sir, it was my fault too," Olivia tried to say, not wanting Peggy to get in trouble, Peggy was just being a good friend and letting her join along, "I was the one who..."

"You," the colonel moved his pointed finger from Peggy to Olivia, "Are not even supposed to be in this country. Last I heard you were supposed to be meeting with the Prime Minister."

"I did," Olivia insisted, "He agreed that it would be a good show of support for me to visit the troops as well, to show America," she gestured at Steve, "And England are still very much Allies, and deeply committed to finishing this war."

It had taken some doing, to convince the Prime Minister that many more young men would enlist if they saw more hope in the war, that she and Steve could bolster that hope. She had run over more than a dozen different scenarios with Peggy, the two women working for months on a way to try and convince the Prime Minister to finally let her even near the war. But if another good thing had come from her time spent in hospital as a child, it was that she'd read ample books about heroes and the sort of message they gave, so many books on how to inspire and she had worked on her speech to the Prime Minister for ages to get it right. When they found out that Steve was going to be in Europe, on a tour of his own, it just seemed to be a perfect opportunity. The face of England and the face of America seen together would help spur people all across the world. The Prime Minister, luckily, had agreed.

She just wasn't supposed to be there YET.

She didn't know what it would mean for after the 'combined tour,' whether she would finally actually be on the field or not, whether she or Steve might be able to convince their countries to allow them to actually take part in it. All she knew was it was a step in the right direction. It was Peggy's hope and thought that seeing them together in the papers would get the people asking for more, for more action.

"Please," Steve cut in, giving Olivia an apologetic look for interrupting, "Tell me if he's alive, sir. B-A-R…"

"I can spell," the colonel huffed, turning to look through a stack of papers, "I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count. But the name _does_ sound familiar. I'm sorry."

Steve let out of breath, clearly stunned at the news. All his life Bucky had been there. All his life Bucky had been at his side, watching his back, and now, when Steve could have _done something_ , could have _been there_ , could have _changed things_...it was too late. He looked back at the colonel, "What about the others? Are you planning a rescue mission?"

If Steve hadn't just been dealt such a terrible blow, Olivia might have smiled at his question. That even with the pain he was feeling, he still thought to ask about the other men and their safety, their lives, just as, she knew, Dr. Erskine would have hoped for in his chosen test subjects.

"Yeah," the colonel deadpanned, "It's called winning the war."

Steve shook his head, "But if you know where they are, why not at least…"

"They're thirty miles behind the lines!" the colonel argued, "Through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we'd save. But I don't expect you to understand that, because you're a chorus girl."

"You don't need to be so cruel," Olivia defended, "Clearly Sergeant Barnes was a dear friend of his," she pointed out, "He..."

"War _is_ cruel," the colonel stated, giving her a firm look, "Neither of you," he pointed between Olivia and Steve, "Have got a right to have a say in any of this. You aren't the ones on the front lines."

"And whose fault is that?" Steve asked, standing beside Olivia, both in solidarity and in appreciation of her support.

"You watch your tone, son," the colonel warned, "Now don't you have to go strap on your dance shoes? If I read the posters correctly, you got some place to be in thirty minutes."

Steve's jaw clenched as a man walked past him, giving Steve a clear view of the military map that was hanging on a board, small markings and pins displaying where the men were, both the men on the field and ones taken hostage, "Yes, sir. I do."

"If you have something to say," the colonel continue to speak as he stepped up to Peggy, "Right now is the perfect time to keep it to yourself."

Olivia and Peggy shared a concerned look as Steve stepped out of the tent and headed to a smaller one nearer to the stage. As they stepped in after him they could see that it was a tent meant just for Steve to use as his own personal quarters. Instead of, as the colonel had remarked, putting on his dancing shoes, Steve was, instead, throwing some items into a pack.

"What do you plan to do?" Peggy frowned, "Walk to Austria?"

"If that's what it takes," Steve answered.

"You heard the Colonel, your friend is most likely dead."

Steve spun around at the words, "You don't _know_ that," no one could know that without a body for proof.

"He _has_ to go," Olivia spoke up, looking at Peggy with such understanding and empathy that they both fell silent, "There were so many times I sat in that hospital," she began, blinking a bit to try and keep her tears back as she thought on that terrible time, "Where I thought _you_ were _dead_ ," her voice broke, she held up a hand to stop Peggy from speaking, "If I had been able, if I had _any_ way to do it, don't think for a second I wouldn't have gone looking for you. I would _never_ have stopped looking until I knew you were ok or until I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I had lost my sister to this war. He has to go," she defended, "It's _his best mate_ , Peggy."

"You can't say you wouldn't do the same for her," Steve remarked, giving Peggy a nod towards Olivia, his meaning clear that if it had been Olivia out there in the war that Peggy would not have just stood by and accepted someone else's word for her friend being dead.

"Even so," Peggy agreed quietly, "He's devising a strategy. If he detects…"

Steve shook his head, "By the time he's done that, it could be too late!" he turned and grabbed his pack.

"If you're going, I'm going too," Olivia stated.

Steve froze from where he was about to sling pack onto his shoulder, turning to look at her, his expression a mixture of confusion, disbelief, and a little bit of shock.

"Liv..." Peggy began, shaking her head.

"I can't ask you to do that," Steve said at just about the same time.

"You're not asking, and neither of you can stop me going," she looked between them, "Technically, I outrank the both of you."

Steve opened his mouth, searching for some way to argue with her, not wanting to drag her into danger...when her last words caught up to him, the implication in them. She was a Major, he was a Captain, she actually COULD order him to stand down and he would have to, as a soldier, as a respectful man and the soldier he kept claiming he wanted to be, he'd have to stand down. If the Colonel had ordered it too, he would have, but the man didn't know his plans.

Olivia did. Olivia could stop him. And yet...she was only telling him he couldn't tell her not to go with him.

Which meant...

"Are you ordering me to go?" Steve's lip quirked up.

Olivia looked over at him, "I'm not ordering you to stay."

He found himself nodding slightly at her words, at how much it said about her in such a short phrase. She had mentioned, so long ago, how she felt about giving orders or being a Major. She didn't feel like she'd earned it and so she was not ordering him to go, because it was against what she felt was her right to do. She wasn't ordering him to go, because she didn't feel she should have that authority. But she wasn't going to order him to stay either. She was just saying that, rank wise, HE couldn't tell HER what to do. And she wanted to go with him, and help.

"You're talking about going out into the field," Peggy turned to her friend, shaking Steve from his realization.

"Yes," Olivia agreed as she faced the woman, "You can't honestly believe that if they're being held in HYDRA custody, they are being treated well. If any of them," she turned to Steve, "If _Bucky_ , are injured, you're going to need a medic to help. I may not have seen the front lines, I may not have witnessed the horror that is this war up close, but I know how to help people. _This_ is what I have been preparing for for almost 3 years. I _am_ going."

Steve looked at her for a long while, almost not seeming to believe she was truly offering to risk her life just to help him try to save the other men of the 107th, and hopefully find his friend still alive, but something inside of him told him that Olivia would not be the girl she was if she didn't. And she was right too, if the state of the men who came in the ambulance before were any indication of what it would be like in the actual prison...none of the men were likely to be in a good state. He hadn't been wrong when they spoke before Phase Two, he trained to be a soldier not a medic, _Olivia_ was a medic. If he was going into battle with anyone other than Bucky, he would want it to be her. The men would need her.

"It wouldn't be right," he spoke, "For me to go in there, with everyone telling me not to, and be someone telling _you_ not to go when you want to go. How long do you need to prepare?"

Olivia gave a grim smile, but nodded, "I just need a few minutes to stop in the medical tents, I should be able to get everything I need from there."

"Olivia," Peggy began, staring at her friend, as though realizing, for the very first time, that by doing this, by having suggested her for Phase One, Olivia would, without any doubt, be going into the front lines to face the enemy herself.

"I would go if it were you," Olivia reminded her, "I can't let him go alone."

"You told us you thought we were meant for more than this," Steve spoke, turning to the agent, "Did you mean that?"

Peggy nodded, though her voice broke on her next words, "Every word."

Olivia stepped over to her, reaching out to take her hands, "Then you need to let us go."

Peggy took a deep breath at that, but nodded, squeezing Olivia's hands, "I can do more than that," if her friend was going into battle, she was going to make sure the woman had every advantage available to succeed.

Olivia just stepped closer and pulled her very best friend into a tight hug, knowing time would be of the essence from this point on and...this might be the last chance she would get to hug her sister.

But even with that knowledge, she couldn't help but hope that Steve would be able to hug his friend too very soon. She would do her best to make sure he could.

A/N: Olivia and Steve are KILLING me here! It's like I just want to smush them together and go 'just kiss already!' God! :)

But lol, they've both been keeping tabs on the other via the newspaper. I feel like, before Project Rebirth, Steve was keeping on top of the war talk and information but more on an 'what are OUR troops up to' sort of thing, reading mostly papers that related to America's side of things. But after he met Olivia, he's more looking at it as a whole, and keeping tabs on the Allies in general...and Olivia too ;) ;)

Timeline for this chapter:  
Steve becomes Captain America - June 23rd 1943  
Steve tours as Captain America - July-November 1943  
Steve learns of Bucky's capture by HYDRA - November 3rd 1943 (that's when he was rescued and the movie seems to imply Steve went right after he found out)

Some notes on reviews...

Thank you! My day was very nice :) I had ice cream cake, I love those crunchies in the middle lol :)

I would certainly not be able to resist Steve, nor would Olivia lol :)

Oh Steve has some interesting reactions to Howard and his comments lol :) I like to think that it will further exacerbate the sort of butting heads thing that Steve and Tony eventually develop, like father like son and all that jazz, but Tony seems to have more of a thing for needling people than his dad did. I kept trying to find a way to save Erskine, but it just felt too forced the times I wrote it :( I agree though, he came across as a sort of father figure to me in terms of his relationship to Steve, a man who saw something in him, encouraged him, defended him, and was really taking time to be there for him too :'( Lorraine will be quite an interesting bump in the road for our lovely couple and, I think, with it being Peggy's best friend that she'll go into sort of mama bear mode. She will certainly be very scary. In the movie, I felt like her shooting at Steve was a sort of venting anger thing 'I'm mad at you, don't talk to me', but in the story she's probably going to be more of a 'I have NO problem taking you out for her' thing ;)

Yup, this story will be 10 chapters :) We're pretty close timeline wise with the events of the movie. The first chapter throws it off a bit because it focuses on Olivia and introducing her, and I added in more original scenes to sort of allow the readers to see how they interact and think of each other pre-serum, which stretches it out a bit. But if we remove the first chapter, we're about halfway through the movie at this point, and about halfway through the story too ;) With Olivia there, some future scenes will be shorter since there'll be two people handling a situation as opposed to one, or the scenes might change because different plans form with a different perspective added :) I think at one point the movie ends up being sort of a montage of things and events and battles which will be briefly alluded to which will shorten things a bit as the story goes. But we're definitely getting more into the action at this point :) No insult taken at all, I fully understand ;)


	7. Rescue Mission

Rescue Mission

Olivia knelt on the floor of the small plane that Howard Stark was piloting, digging through her medical pack, going over everything she had managed to nick out of the infirmary tent while Peggy had distracted one of the doctors. She hoped it would be enough as she didn't want to take too much from the official tents. She had plenty of bandages, water, antibiotics, salves, and other things that would be needed on the field of battle. She didn't know what state the men would be in, a part of her worried it would be far worse than the men who reached camp in the ambulances. She just wanted it to be enough, _she_ wanted to be enough.

As though reading her thoughts, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Steve had crouched beside her, looking at her with such understanding that she knew he probably could guess what was going through her mind at that moment. The colonel's words hadn't just been against Steve all those months ago, it had affected her too. She reached up and put her hand over his, giving it a strong squeeze in return. This would be the deciding moment that would show whether or not she and Steve were enough.

"The HYDRA camp is in Kreuzberg," Peggy was saying to Stark, standing near the pilot, explaining their destination, as Olivia began to repack her materials, "Tucked between these two mountain ranges. It's a factory of some kind."

Stark nodded, "We should be able to drop you right on the doorstep."

Steve reached out a hand to help Olivia to her feet, glancing up at the man at the pilot seat, "Just get us as close as you can."

Stark glanced over his shoulder in their direction for the comment, "You're going too, dollface?"

Olivia rolled her eyes at the comment, not seeming to notice the way Steve was eyeing the man for the name, "You've seen the soldiers when they returned to camp, they're going to need a medic of some kind there with them."

"I just meant you're gonna be going like _that_?" Even while piloting the plane, Stark still managed to give her an eye up and down.

"It's not like I had much time to prepare," Olivia defended, shifting uncomfortably in her uniform. It looked somewhat like what Steve was wearing, because she had stolen it from the laundry area of the camp, baggy dark brown pants, a brown leather jacket, boots and a helmet. However her uniform was a size or two too large and designed for a man, but she was not about to complain though. This was far more sensible than trying to raid a HYDRA base in either of her two other uniforms.

"I like the white one better," Stark shrugged, turning back to focus on his flying.

"I thought you said it was so new no one had seen it yet," Steve frowned and glanced at Olivia, knowing that he had seen her brown uniform, but heard nothing about a white one, which must have been the one she had mentioned wearing on her interviews.

"Oh I seen it alright," Stark called over, letting out a low whistle, "You wear that around them Nazis, you ain't gonna need the cover of darkness to distract them."

"Because it's horrendous," Olivia muttered, though her cheeks were flaming red.

Steve looked between her and Stark at her reaction, feeling an odd sting in his chest and twist in his gut not only at the thought that this man had seen the elusive uniform when he hadn't, but also the fact that he was apparently close enough with Olivia to call her dollface without reprimand. He shook his head and focused back on Peggy and Stark, even if his jaw might have clenched a bit more at where his thoughts had gone, "You know, you two are gonna be in a lot of trouble at the lab."

Peggy scoffed, "And you won't?"

"Where we're goin', if anybody yells at me or Liv, I can just shoot 'em."

"Ooh, Liv is it?" Stark chuckled, "You got her approval to call her that?" he asked, before glancing at Peggy, "She sweet on him?"

Peggy, in a rare show of NOT taking the opportunity to tease her friend, merely gave him a covert wink with her back to them, before she fully turned to face the two super soldiers, "You need to be careful," she reminded them, "Shoot at them and they will undoubtedly shoot back."

"Well, let's hope it's good for somethin'," Steve remarked, knocking on the rather thin shield he'd nicked from the stage along with one of the showgirls' helmets that he'd put on his head.

"And, worst case," Olivia reminded them, holding up the pack in front of her before she fixed it to her front since a parachute was going to go on her back, "I _am_ a medic."

"Agent Carter, if we're not in too much of a hurry," Stark called out, "I thought we could stop off in Lucerne for a late night fondue."

"Ooh, _fondue_ ," Olivia _finally_ got to tease Peggy back, taking a parachute pack from Steve.

Peggy just cleared her throat awkwardly and walked over to the two soldiers who were helping adjust the straps on each other's parachutes, "Stark is the best civilian pilot I've ever seen. He's mad enough to brave this airspace, we're lucky to have him."

"Yes," Olivia stated, drawing out the word, "WE are _so lucky_ ," she nudged Peggy in the arm, earning an eye roll and shake of the head for it.

Peggy took a breath and held out a small black box to them, "This is your transponder. Activate it when you're ready and the signal will lead us straight to you."

Steve looked down at it skeptically, "Are you sure this thing works?"

"It's been tested more than you and Olivia combined, pal," Stark replied, sounding the smallest bit defensive.

Steve opened his mouth to ask something else, before a thought struck him and he turned to Olivia, " _He_ doesn't call you Liv?"

"If I gave him that privilege, he would most certainly abused it," Olivia told him with a small smile, knowing without a doubt that there would have been an endless stream of jokes and teasing centered around her name if she had. Telling her how much he couldn't LIV without her and so on. She could do without that thank you very much.

Steve felt himself smile as well despite the situation, the clenching in his gut dissipating almost instantly as a warm feeling spread through him. Olivia had said her friends called her Liv, he counted himself lucky to be among the few who did. He may not have gotten a glimpse of this white uniform Stark spoke about, but HE got to call her Liv whenever he wanted. That was a much better prize in his book. He looked up a moment later, hearing gunfire above them and some thumps around the plane, it had clearly been detected and was being attacked right at that moment.

"You ready for this?" Steve looked at Olivia as he held out a hand to her.

"I suppose this is a bad time to say I need to use the loo, isn't it?" Olivia referenced his words from so many months ago, reaching out to take his hand.

Steve let out a laugh and led her to the open bay door, the two of them getting ready to jump.

"Get back here!" Peggy shouted, "We're taking you all the way in!"

"You're _under fire_ ," Olivia reminded her, "We can't go all the way in without risking _your lives_."

Steve nodded his agreement, "As soon as we're free, you turn this thing around and get the hell outta here!"

"Just because you're a captain doesn't mean you can give _me_ orders!" Peggy stated.

"Then as your best mate," Olivia began, knowing she would never order Peggy to do something in general, "I'm _begging_ you, Peggy, to stay safe."

"We can do this," Steve told her.

Peggy looked between the two of them, noting how serious they were, her gaze dropping down to their hands once more, locked together as they always seemed to be whenever she saw them within arms reach of each other. She took a breath, reminding herself that Steve and Olivia would watch each other's backs. She had seen Steve react instantly just after Phase Two, how he had grabbed Olivia and shielded her from the explosion with his own body. He would protect her and Olivia would care for him. They would _both_ come back safe, she had to believe that.

Olivia had had to stand by while SHE went on assignment after assignment and trust that she would be ok. Now it was time for her to return the favor.

She stepped back before she could change her mind, "Go," she nodded.

Olivia gave her a small smile while Steve offered a salute, before they both turned and jumped out of the plane...

~8~

In Olivia's opinion it was a complete and utter miracle that she and Steve managed to land safely on the ground, without alerting any of the enemies to their presence. It was honestly another miracle in and of itself that she even managed to land without killing herself or landing on Steve. She was following his instructions, the brief rundown he'd given her of his own basic training about how to manage the parachute. She might have had a rough landing, actually stumbled and fallen, but Steve was quick to help her back up. They didn't want to risk their luck and so they quickly discarded their parachutes and she shifted her medical pack onto her back, making their way further into the woods that the map had indicated surrounded the HYDRA factory. She was sure, had the situation not been so dire and serious, that she would have appreciated the way she and Steve seemed to work in sync as they made their way through the woods. They were both fast, both agile, lighter and surer of foot, and not at all hindered by the darkness of the night around them. They kept going, using the sounds of vehicles ahead of them as a guide until they reached a road where trucks were driving by.

Steve made a simple hand gesture towards one of them, Olivia nodding, understanding that he wanted them to try to sneak onto one. They made for the last truck in the row, Steve jumping on and getting into the back, only to find himself face-to-face with two HYDRA agents, just as Olivia managed to get herself on behind him.

"Oh, hello," Olivia offered, having absolutely no idea what the proper protocol would be towards staring down the enemy so soon. She was sure a part of her should have been terrified, she literally had landed in the middle of the enemy camp, so to speak. But a larger part of her just kept reminding her that this really wasn't anything worse than what she pictured and had nightmares of Peggy facing those years she'd been in Hospital and Peggy was the one out on the field. Another part of her was fixed on the thought that she HAD to be there, the men needed her, needed a medic, and it didn't matter what she felt, it was her duty to her country to help.

...and perhaps another part of her felt significantly less fearful with Steve beside her. Between the two of them, she was sure they could accomplish what they set out to do with minimal loss or injury.

"Fellas," Steve greeted as well, before striking out quickly, using their surprise to his advantage to take them both out before they could reach for their weapons. Olivia dunked down as he made to throw the two agents, now unconscious, out of the truck. While he would have been able to fire the small pistol he'd taken with him with minimal noise given the sounds outside the truck, they wanted to avoid killing unless it was truly necessary.

While they might be there to rescue the 107th and to search for Bucky, and while they knew they would eventually have to go on the offense against HYDRA agents, it didn't mean they needed to kill them right off the bat. They didn't know the story behind every agent. For all they knew some of them could have been blackmailed or threatened into joining HYDRA. If they were being fired at or directly attacked, of course they would retaliate in kind, but if they could avoid killing at all it would be best. The last thing they wanted was to lower themselves to the enemy's level.

They readied themselves at the edge of the vehicle, crouched down so they might get off the truck as quickly as possible once they were in the factory that made up the Nazi camp. Steve lifted his shield, hearing someone approaching and waited till the agent lifted the flap on the back of the vehicle. He quickly pushed out with his shield, knocking the man back. They didn't waste any time and hopped off the back, carefully making their way through the courtyard area surrounding the factory. They hid behind what looked like a very advanced tank, glancing at each other as they took in the maze of equipment and vehicles and soldiers before them. Steve looked at Olivia and she nodded that she was ready. They took off, maneuvering between the objects, climbing up tanks and walls with ease.

For a single moment, Steve had been concerned that Olivia would need help with the climbing, not just because of the loaded bag she had on her back and what little she'd mentioned her training amounting to, but just...it was hard for him to look at her and see 'super soldier.' He didn't mean that in a bad way, it was just, looking at himself, even not knowing what he looked like before Phase Two, he looked the part of the strong soldier. Tall, muscular, broad shouldered, and so on. Olivia looked more lean than he did, she was tall yes, athletic looking but not overly muscular the way he might. It was easy to forget sometimes that she likely proved herself to be every bit as strong as he was due to the serum. That and the uniform she'd stolen drowned her so it was even harder to notice any muscles she might have.

Not that he was looking at how her body appeared in the uniform! He was certainly not noticing that.

It just hid a lot of her physique, as did her typical brown uniform as well. The only part of her body he'd actually seen were her legs from the knees down and he was a gentleman so he did not look there too long.

Despite his momentary concerns, Olivia kept pace with him easily, sometimes seeming more like she was holding back to give HIM a chance to keep up. Whichever it was, he was not complaining as they worked their way into the factory. They paused by a door into a large room full of equipment, lingering just enough to draw the attention of the guard right in front of it. They backed up as the man came to investigate and peek his head through the door, only to have Steve slam it shut on his head, knocking him out. Olivia quickly pulled the agent into the small hall they'd found themselves in so as not to draw attention. They cautiously made their way through the door and into the room, timing their moves carefully to dash between the rows of items without the other guards noticing.

They paused when they came to a table that had a few small objects on it, all seemingly powered by a light blue energy of some sort. Steve frowned and picked up a small rectangular device, sliding it into his pocket when Olivia reached out a moment, putting her hand on Steve's arm and gesturing to her ear with her other hand, moving it to her lips to gesture for him to be quiet a moment and listen. He gave a nod and they both fell silent, focusing on the sounds around them, and it reached them, the sound of talking. But not just that, the sounds of American accents speaking in English. It _had_ to be the soldiers from the 107th or at least a member of it for they weren't speaking German or using the pronounced accent.

They quickly followed the voices leading them down into the basement of the factory, an area they could see had been converted into a prison of sorts with a number of soldiers locked behind bars. It was like the floor above had been hollowed out so that the guards could see the prisoners below and patrol there.

Steve made another hand gesture to Olivia, silently telling her to hold back a moment, before he snuck up on the lone guard patrolling and used his shield and a swift punch to knock him out. He gestured to Olivia that it was clear and she dashed over to his side, looking down to try and get a count of the men held there.

"Who are you supposed to be?" one of the men demanded.

"Captain America," Steve introduced himself, before gesturing at Olivia, "And Major Britannia."

"Bollocks," Olivia muttered beside him, which earned her a small chuckle from him, clearly he _had_ seen more than just a few advertisements and news clippings of her last few months in London if he knew that tidbit of what her country called her. She had been very careful not to mention it to him during their talks.

Another man shook his head, confused, "I beg your pardon?"

"Come on, this way," Steve touched her arm, nodding to where he saw a set of stairs leading down. They ran for it, hurriedly moving to the cell doors to let the men out.

"Are any of you severely injured?" Olivia asked as she observed them carefully, trying to quickly assess which were injured and which required immediate aid. Thankfully none of the soldiers appeared to be too injured of the ones kept in the cells. She wouldn't be able to tell until she spoke to them more, but from a preliminary glance they appeared in better condition than the men from the ambulance earlier.

"We're alright for now," the first man answered, confirming her thoughts, "Some of us might need a bit of help getting out of here, but we don't got the time to stand here for medical evaluation," he nodded at her armband signifying her as a medic.

"Yeah," the second man agreed, "Let's all get out of here first, and then we'll worry about who needs a band-aid."

"That isn't how it works..." Olivia murmured.

"It'll have to do for now," Steve looked at her with regret, knowing every moment there, every moment they lingered in one place for too long, was another minute that the Nazis could find out they were there and attack. They _had_ to be quick. He looked at the men as they filed out of the cells, "Is there anybody else? I'm looking for a Sergeant James Barnes..."

"There's an isolation ward in the factory," one of the men could only shrug, not sure, "But no one's ever come back from it."

Steve looked over at Olivia, a question on his face, she patted the pack strap on her shoulder and gave him a firm nod, telling him she was with him. It was one of the worst parts about being a medic, having to decide in a split second which injured men were savable and which were a waste of supplies and not likely to survive. Medics had to be able to determine which of the wounded had a better chance of recovery and get them to safety first. These men could support and protect each other, but given what they said about isolation, whoever was there would would need far more significant medical treatment.

"Alright," Steve nodded, turning to gesture to the door as he led the men along the cells with Olivia beside him, "The tree line is northwest, 80 yards past the gate. Get out fast and give 'em hell."

"There's a clearing just past the tree line," Olivia told them, "That's where we'll be meeting you."

"Wait!" another man called as they began to make their way through the prisoners, heading for the door on the other side of the prison, "You know what you're doin'?"

"He does," Olivia nodded her head towards Steve.

Steve smirked at that, she was holding her own pretty well, "Yeah. I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times."

"Be careful," Olivia ordered the men, pointing at them warningly, "If I find any of you more injured than when we found you here, I will be _very_ cross with you. And the last thing you want is a cross medic tending your wounds."

Steve just barely refrained from laughing at the quite worried looks on some of the men's faces, "I'd do what she says," before offering them a solute and turning to head out with Olivia.

~8~

Steve and Olivia knew almost instantly the exact moment that the prisoners had managed to escape from the factory based on the alarms that were going off and the shouting coming from outside. They took a moment to pause just outside a window, glancing out into the courtyard, to see the 107th overpowering the guards just by their sheer numbers, stealing weapons from the fallen soldiers to use against them. Reassured that the men would be able to make it to the tree line without much injury, the two soldiers continued on. They moved on, following the gestured direction the other man had given them for where to find the isolation chambers.

They paused momentarily as they rounded a corner to a hallway to see a shorter man dash out of a room. The man, who they recognized to be someone called Zola, a scientific officer for HYDRA, stared at them for a single second before he turned to run away. They went after him, intent to follow and apprehend him, when Olivia skid to a halt, grabbing Steve's arm to stop him, hearing something...a person moaning in pain.

"This way," she turned and ran into the room Zola had just fled, the noise getting louder, the person actually SPEAKING.

"Sergeant," a man was murmuring weakly, "32557…"

Steve froze, "Bucky!" he called, recognizing that voice. They ran further into the room, Olivia racing ahead when they caught sight of Bucky strapped to an examination table of some sort, "Bucky?" Steve breathed, before rushing to Olivia's side to help her unstrap man so she could check him, "Oh, my God."

"Is that…" Bucky started to come around at the sound of Steve's voice, the feel of the straps releasing.

"It's me. It's Steve."

Bucky blinked blearily up at him, "Steve?"

"Come on."

"Steve."

"I thought you were dead!"

"I thought you were smaller..."

"Wait, wait," Olivia stilled Steve from helping to pull Bucky up to his feet, already able to tell the man was in far worse shape than those in the cells and not wanting to move him too much till she was sure he could be moved without harming him more, "I need to check him first."

Steve backed away slightly with a small nod, giving her room to do what she needed.

"Who's the dame?" Bucky asked, smiling weakly at Olivia.

"Major Williams," Steve told the man.

"What's an angel like you doing in a hell like this?"

"I'm a medic," Olivia spoke, quite worried about his mutterings but brushing his words off as delirium, "Just give me a moment..."

Steve watched, quite fascinated to see Olivia working in action. She pulled her pack off with an ease, setting it down just beside Bucky, before pulling something off of a smaller pack on a belt around her waist, a small flashlight, checking Bucky's eyes quickly while her other hand absently applied light pressure to the main parts of his body, to check for injuries.

She began murmuring to herself, Steve wasn't entirely sure she was aware she was doing it, "Signs of exhaustion, but that's expected, sleep deprivation a likely cause based on the shadows under the eyes. Minor rib fractures or bruising," she added with a wince when Bucky flinched as she gently touched his ribs, "Exhibiting signs of malnutrition, which makes sense," she lifted his one hand and lightly pinched the skin at the back of it, watching how slowly the skin went back to normal, "Dehydration," she confirmed, and let go of his hand, watching as it fell back to the table, "Physical exhaustion as well, but no other broken bones I can determine," she glanced at his arms and legs which she'd quickly pressed lightly on as she unstrapped him, the man exhibiting no signs of pain when she had, unlike his ribs, "Alright..." she nodded to herself.

Steve couldn't take his eyes off her, completely enraptured as Olivia got to work fixing up his best friend enough to get him out of there. She pulled a small tin from a standard issue waist pack she'd nicked and a small bottle from her bag, opening them up to offer Bucky two small white pills, "Take these, salt tablet to help restore your electrolytes from the dehydration and aspirin should help with the pain," she gave him her canteen to drink it down with and then moved on to pulling out a small set of gauze and hydrogen peroxide, "I'm worried about this cut here," she mumbled to herself, dabbing at what looked like quite a severe wound to the side of Bucky's head, it was bleeding profusely, "I don't know how long it's been exposed for, best to get something on it now," it would also be best to try and stop the bleeding sooner than risk it dripping into Bucky's eye as they tried to escape.

She didn't have time to be as gentle with him as she had with Steve when he had cut his face months ago, but Bucky barely flinched at the sting he must have felt.

"Sit up, shirt off," Olivia ordered and Steve rushed to help Bucky do just that.

"Hey now," Bucky slurred, "We oughta go on a date first..."

"You're not my type," Olivia answered, not entirely paying attention to what he was saying as she pulled a roll of bandages from her pack, Steve lifting Bucky's shirt up for her, "Your ribs will slow us all down if they're not wrapped as properly as we can manage now."

Steve helped Bucky keep his arms up as Olivia got right to work, his gaze drawn to something over Bucky's shoulders, a map on the wall with a few markings on it.

"There," Olivia spoke what felt like mere moments later and Steve saw she'd finished the wrapping quicker than he had ever seen them wrapped before, before she turned to the pack and pulled out another small pouch, "Don't have time to treat the rest of the wounds, but this ought to help, sulfanilamide powder to disinfect them," she added, putting a bit of the powder on her hand and starting to dab at the various cuts decorating Bucky's torso and chest, "Down," she ordered and Steve set his arms and shirt back down.

"'mm I all good now doc, or do I need a physical too?" Bucky asked with a slow smirk, the effect diminished by how his head seemed to lull down weakly.

Olivia looked back at him, reaching up to check his eyes once more, "Still not focused," she murmured, "Help him up," she called to Steve, who manage to get Bucky standing though the man was leaning heavily on him, seeming on the cusp of collapsing. She moved to pull a small bottle of some clear liquid out of the front of the pouch along with a syringe.

"What is that?" Steve asked, watching closely.

"Something that should get him up and moving long enough to get out of here," she told him, pulling the cap off the needle with her teeth and carefully measuring an amount, "This may sting," she warned Bucky before she stabbed it into his thigh and released the solution.

Not even ten seconds later Bucky was already more alert, "What the hell was that?" he gasped.

"Adrenaline," Olivia answered, grateful she'd thought to snag a bottle, anticipating exhaustion would be something she'd be facing in the men, "Alright there?"

"Better, yeah," Bucky nodded, able to push himself up on his own now.

"That's all I can spare till we check on the other men," Olivia warned Steve as she quickly repacked her supplies.

"You found the others?" Bucky looked between them and Olivia nodded.

"But he's ok?" Steve asked.

"For now," Olivia answered, "But we need to get him out of here and somewhere more stable so I can do a more thorough examination of him and the rest."

"Thank you, Liv," Steve smiled at her.

Even in his weakened state and despite his confusion, Bucky couldn't help but look between the two, feeling his lip quirk up in the corner as he saw how Steve smiled at the girl, but even more...how she smiled back.

"Right then, time to go," Bucky determined, straightening up and frowning, it was now far more noticeable to him just how much larger Steve was than what he remembered of his friend, "What happened to you?"

"I joined the Army," was Steve's answer as the trio turned to rush out of the room, their ears open in case there was anyone else locked in isolation.

"Did it hurt?"

"A little."

"Is it permanent?"

"Yes," Olivia answered. As far as the testing went, all signs indicated that once the serum assimilated with the body's natural blood supply and chemistry, there could be no separating it, it was self-regenerating.

"This way," Steve turned to lead them off.

~8~

The two super soldiers and Bucky ran as fast as they could through the factory, which had started to explode around them only moments ago, Steve in the lead with Olivia behind, keeping Bucky ahead of her as he seemed still a little disoriented as he ran. From what they had seen of the outside of the building and what they had scoped of the inside, they should be near an exit, they just had to find it. They ran up a flight of stairs, seeing a door on the other side of the room, but stopped short when they came face-to-face with Schmidt and Zola, the two main heads of HYDRA, standing just in front of them next to the door.

There was a single catwalk that separated the one side of the room from the other, where the exit was.

"Captain America!" Schmidt cried out, sounding far too pleased with such a confrontation than one would think an enemy should, "And sweet Major Britannia," the man sneered at Olivia, though it looked more like a leer than anything, prompting Steve to take one more step forward, slightly moving in front of Olivia as though to block his view of her, "How exciting! I'm a great fan of your films. And you, dear girl," the man turned his attention to Olivia, "Such a wondrous orator you are, we could do with a woman of your charms at HYDRA."

"I would rather die," Olivia told him, stepping up beside Steve, the two of them forming a protective barrier between the leader of HYDRA and Bucky, not about to let him harm the man again.

"Tsk, tsk, so rude," the man taunted, "I see Dr. Erskine managed it after all," he began to approach them on the catwalk, prompting Steve to stride forward to stop him halfway, "Not exactly an improvement, but still impressive."

If the man planned to enrage Steve or bait him into combat, it appeared to work for Steve launched himself at the man, hitting him with a solid punch to the face, "You've got no idea."

The man laughed, "Haven't I?"

Schmidt moved to hit Steve, to return blow, but Steve managed to defend himself, lifting his tin shield to block the punch. Olivia stayed behind, keeping Bucky from interfering. She knew the man would want to go help his friend, from the stories Steve told her while they waited for Stark and his plane to prep, he was the one usually doing the fighting instead of Steve. But Steve was better now, a soldier, trained and ready, and she knew from Dr. Erskine's history that Schmidt had also injected himself with a version of the serum. He would be too strong for Bucky to take on, especially in the state he was in now. She had to keep Bucky from getting caught in the crossfire, otherwise Steve would never be able to focus.

Steve made to grab for his gun but Schmidt landed a punch that not only knocked Steve onto his back but caused him to drop his pistol as well. He moved to attack Steve again but the man kicked out both legs, sending Schmidt flying back.

Suddenly the catwalk began to widen and open, retracting both of them to either side, separating them. She could see Zola on the other side by a lever, the man smirking and looking far too pleased. Clearly he had triggered a mechanism to open the catwalk, drawing Schmidt to safety and leaving Steve and the rest of them stranded on their side.

"No matter what lies Erskine told you," Schmidt began, basking in his victory, "You see _I_ was his greatest success!"

Olivia looked absolutely disgusted as Schmidt reached for his neck, just below his chin, and began to pull his own face off. It looked like he was peeling flesh to reveal what appeared to be a skeleton beneath barely covered with red skin. Dr. Erskine had explained it to her at one point, described the horror he had witnessed when Schmidt stole his serum. She had not imagined it to be quite as horrendous as what she was witnessing now. She could also understand Dr. Erskine's concerns about what the serum amplified, it was so clear. Looking at this man, so horribly disfigured by the use of the serum, seeing this factory and what he had done to other human beings. The bad had truly been made worse, she would argue even evil. He was clearly deranged as well, to claim himself as the greatest success.

Everyone knew that the rough draft always came before the masterpiece, Schmidt had come first, she and Steve second.

"You don't have one of those, do you?" Bucky asked from beside her, glancing back and forth between her and Steve at the sight of the Red Skull.

"I certainly hope not," Olivia muttered, unable to help but touch the side of her face just a moment.

"You are deluded!" Schmidt shouted over at them, "You pretend to be a simple soldier and a harmless medic," he threw his mask into the growing fires below, "But in reality you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind," he began to walk towards Zola and the door, "Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!"

Steve shook his head, "Then how come you're running?"

Schmidt just smirked in return and pressed a button to seal him and Zola away behind the door. Steve looked around, trying to find any other way out of the room, but there was none just the door across open catwalk.

"Up!" Olivia shouted, pointing at something she'd spotted above them.

Steve followed her finger to see a beam had fallen across a catwalk higher up, leading to the other side of the room. But they would have to be quick to reach it before the entire factory blew, "Come on, let's go," he called, moving to lead the way.

Olivia kept herself behind Bucky as they went, helping the man climb up as he stumbled. By the time they reach the next level, practically the entire factory was on fire, "Go, go," she insisted, needing to get the wounded officer to safety first before her or Steve, which Steve seemed to be in agreement of as he too was urging Bucky to go first.

Bucky managed to reach the other side of the beam, but only just, jumping from the end of it when it nearly gave way under him. He looked around frantically, needing to find something, anything, that would help get his friend and the woman who had helped him to safety but there was nothing, just a chasm between him and the other two.

"Gotta be a rope or something!" Bucky called to them searching around.

"We'll find a way," Olivia shouted over to him, "But you need to get out of here, go!"

"Just go!" Steve agreed, trying to wave Bucky to escape, "Get out of here!"

The moment the shouts were out of hers and Steve's mouth Olivia knew instantly that Bucky would not listen to them. And the man proved her right moments later with his own words to Steve, "No! Not without you!"

Despite how serious and dire the situation was, Olivia couldn't help but smile softly at the man's show of loyalty to his friend. It reminded her so very much of her and Peggy. Had it been Peggy on the other side encouraging her to leave she would not have moved a muscle until she knew Peggy was safe. Now it was up to her and Steve to get themselves out of harm's way.

She looked over at him, "Have they tested how far you can jump yet?" she asked. They did quite excessive testing on her, but she didn't know the extent of what the U.S. Army might have done for Steve. It seemed like quite soon after Phase Two, he had been sent on tour so perhaps they felt they didn't need to test that with him.

"I guess we're about to find out," Steve answered. He looked over at her giving her a firm nod, which she returned.

They both reached out to the broken railing in front of them, taking either side of it, and bending it further away to make a wider gap before stepping back as far as they could. They looked at each other one more time with another nod before they both took off and made a running leap for the other side...

A/N: Lol Bucky, you're half dead and STILL flirting, and then got shot down by your best friend's girl repeatedly lol :)

I tried my best with the medical jargon and tried to imagine what would someone in Bucky's place be suffering as a prisoner of HYDRA and also what he appeared to be like in the movie. And, from there, I tried to sort of work out how Olivia would be able to determine some of that and what could or couldn't be done to help stabilize him. I researched the medical packs worn by the medics during WWII and to what they carried with them. So the salt tablets, the aspirin, gauze, bandages, disinfectant powder, it's all legit in that sense. I try to keep things as realistic as possible, looking into when certain things were discovered/used, like adrenaline and syringes and hydrogen peroxide, to see if it might be possible for them to exist or be used during WWII.

I hope you liked Olivia's little moment to shine, I felt like if Steve had had a medic there in the movie he certainly would have let them take as long as possible to look over and help Bucky, because it was his best friend and he clearly did look like he was struggling and hurt. I hope you also liked Bucky's initial (though quite delirious) reaction to her :) But just think, now that we've got Bucky...and he seems to know Steve is sweet on Olivia...how long do you think it'll be before he steps in to 'help' his friend out to get the girl ;) ;)

Timeline for this chapter:  
Steve and Olivia rescue Bucky and the 107 - November 3rd 1943

Some notes on reviews...

Lol, that won't be the first reference in the series to Olivia's rank compared to Steve's ;)

I could see the store owner doing that to help boost sales :) I always laugh when he hits the window because it's like he's running so fast he's not used to it and he's going so fast he can't turn in time and I just find that really amusing :) I think Peggy will be a little scarier mostly in the sense that, in the movie she's sort of angry/hurt and, to me, not thinking quite as clearly as normal, in the story she's going to be angry/hurt on someone's behalf and thinking completely clearly about what she's doing and intending to do it :)

I can't say whether they'll kiss before the Avengers or not...but we've only got about 3 more days before we find out ;)

I've thought of a few different ways for Olivia (and perhaps Bucky's OC, not saying anything yet though) to survive into the 2010s, but we'll have to wait and see which one will happen for Olivia ;)


	8. Love in a Time of War

A/N: There's a small note about the timeline of the start of this chapter, which is somewhat different from what the movie appears to indicate and what online timelines claim at the end of the chapter. Online sources indicate it was the very next day that the 107th returned, I've made it closer to a week, and there's some information and details about that at the end :)

~8~

Love in a Time of War

Peggy Carter stood rigidly in front of Colonel Phillips. Her shoulders were stiff and back, her spine straight, her face set in a hard line. The only indication that was she was worried at all could be found in the way she was wringing her hands together, in the way her eyes kept flickering out to the main camp. It shouldn't have taken this long for Steve and Olivia to contact her. She and Howard had remained in the plane, circling the area as long as possible, before they were forced to land. She hadn't let go of the device that would keep her in contact with her friend, but there had been no activity.

It has been more time than she cared to think about since she and Howard had flown the plane past the German lines. 6 days, almost 7, nearly a week and she had spent every hour of it going over all possible situations that could have befallen her friend and Steve Rogers. She wasn't as great a mathematician as Olivia was, but she could work out at least that they should have been back before now. Even if they were walking the entire way, given their speed and agility and endurance, they _should have been back_. All she could keep thinking was that her friend had been captured or killed by HYDRA. She would have to give her a very tight hug if ever she saw Olivia again if this was in any way a small fraction of what the girl had endured each time SHE went out on a field assignment over those two long years.

Olivia would have to be alive for her to do that though.

She flinched as she heard what the colonel was dictating to one of his corporals seated at a typewriter, "Senator Brandt, I regret to report that Captain Steven G. Rogers went missing behind enemy lines on the 3rd. Aerial reconnaissance has proven unfruitful. As a result, I must declare Captain Rogers killed in action. Period."

The man had only just finished dictating the very same message to the Prime Minister regarding Olivia. Hearing him believe even his own soldier, that Steve, had been killed in battle as well, it just made Peggy even more concerned that it was true. The man had devoted a few resources to trying to scout for the two super soldiers, understanding how much had gone into creating them and, probably, to save his own skin that they'd been destroyed on HIS watch. But nothing had come of it, she had the proof in her hands.

"The last surveillance flight is back," Peggy spoke quietly, her voice hoarse and sounding quite exhausted. But she herself had been manning any effort they could spare to try and track down Olivia and Steve, wanting to be the first to know, "No sign of activity."

Olivia had been right, the only thing that was stopping her from going out there and trying to track her friend down herself, was the fact that the colonel had discovered her and Howard when they returned and he kept one of his soldiers guarding her at every turn. She could go nowhere in the camp without being observed. She was lucky she hadn't been sent back on dishonorable discharge or something of the sort, though she was sure it would be coming.

The colonel sighed, shaking his head, and looking at the man taking his dictation, "Go get a cup of coffee, Corporal."

The man nodded, "Yes, sir," before saluting and turning to leave.

The colonel looked up at her, "I can't touch Stark. He's rich and he's the Army's number one weapons contractor. _You_ are neither."

Peggy took a deep breath, lifting her chin and squaring her shoulders, staring him down, "With respect, sir, I don't regret my actions. And I don't think Major Williams or Captain Rogers did either."

The man moved to stand right in front of her, "You gonna stand there and lie to me?" he asked, looking her in the eye, "Don't think I don't know that girl was your best friend, and you let her walk into her _death_ ," he took a grim satisfaction in the way Peggy flinched at the words, "You may say you don't regret it now, but you will when you see her body and what HYDRA does to it. I took a chance with you, Agent Carter. And now, not only is your own country's shining star lost, but America's golden boy and a lot of other good men are dead."

Peggy shook her head, still unwilling to fully believe that her friend might actually be dead. It was exactly like Olivia had said, she would not take the word of another until she saw physical proof in front of her own eyes, "I still have faith that..."

But the colonel scoffed, cutting her off, "Well, I hope your _faith_ is a big comfort to you when they shut this division down," he opened his mouth to say something else, but a commotion outside the tent drew his attention. He looked outside the open the flaps to see soldiers running through the camp, the sound of cheering starting to sound, "What the hell's going on out there?" he muttered before stepping out of the tent with Peggy, following the crowd to the edge of camp.

And there, just in front of Peggy's eyes, was the lost 107th making their way out of the forest, with Steve and Olivia leading in front. Not only were the men walking along with them, but they had brought a few Nazi tanks and weapons along with them.

"Liv," Peggy breathed, her hands flying to her mouth, tears of relief in her eyes to see her friend alive and looking unharmed, dirty but unharmed.

She didn't even hesitate, pushing past the men and rushing to Olivia to give her the tight hug she swore she would next time she saw her. She had never heard anything better than Olivia giving a light laugh in her ear as her friend returned the hug.

"Sir," Steve greeted the colonel as the man approached, giving him a salute.

Olivia pulled away from the hug lightly, turning to address the colonel, "I've examined each of the soldiers for any injuries," she reported, pulling out a small notepad from the pocket of her jacket, giving it to him to see she'd actually taken notes about each man's wounds in order of severity, "There are none too severe, but there are some that are quite extensive. I dressed as many as I could in the field and stabilized them. We were lucky that some villages along the way offered food when we passed through, but they could do with some rest, proper food, and a more thorough examination in the tents."

The colonel looked from the notes, past the two of them to the line of soldiers that had gathered, quickly seeing any noticeable injuries had indeed been dressed and tended to. Some men were walking between two others with their legs in a makeshift splint, others with their arms bandaged and hanging in slings from their necks. But none of them looked too bad for the wear compared to what he thought they would be. He didn't want to imagine the state they had been in when she first tended to them though.

"So you actually _are_ a medic," the colonel remarked, eyeing Olivia.

Olivia's lips pursed as she took a deep breath and faced the man down, "I didn't just lie in hospital beds waiting to _die_ , sir. I made ample use of my time with books or training. Perhaps if both governments had had the foresight to allow myself and Steve into battle, this could have been avoided."

The colonel actually looked away for a moment, seemingly chastised by the reminder of how near-death she actually _had_ been according to her files.

Steve could only barely keep himself from smiling when he heard Bucky mutter behind him, "I like her."

"Medics," the colonel called to those particular individuals who had been lingering, unsure whether they would be reprimanded for helping someone who had disobeyed orders. But with that shout they quickly rushed past and went to tend to the men, one taking the notes from the colonel to review as they went.

"Sir," Steve turn to the colonel once more, "I'd like to surrender myself for disciplinary action."

He only spoke of himself, Olivia was not technically an American Soldier, but he was. He also wasn't about to bring up how Olivia, his senior commander at the moment he'd left, hadn't ordered him to stand down.

The colonel, however, just shook his head, looking at all the men who had returned and feeling, perhaps for the first time in a long while, as though this war finally had a chance of ending with a Nazi defeat. Two people, one of them only a medic, had managed to not only clearly defeat an enemy at their home base, but also return to them a number of soldiers. Two people had done what an entire platoon of soldiers would have been lost doing.

"That won't be necessary."

Steve smirked, "Yes, sir."

Colonel Phillips shook his head and looked over at Peggy, who stood next to Olivia with her arm linked, "Faith, huh?"

Peggy nodded, "Respectfully? You could do with some, sir."

The colonel seemed to give a small laugh at that remark, turning to walk back to the main camp, to speak with some of the injured about their experiences as prisoners of HYDRA.

Peggy looked over at her friend and Steve, "You're late," she told them, though her eyes flickered more to Olivia on her next words, "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Olivia just gave her another strong hug, "Now we're even," she whispered in Peggy's ear.

"Wasn't her fault," Steve defended, "We couldn't call our ride," he held up the broken communicator.

"Hey!" Bucky called out to the gathered men, all greeting each other and checking on their returned friends, "Let's hear it for our heroes, Captain America and Major Britannia."

Steve let out a hearty laugh because, even while the men were cheering at both of them, Olivia still blushed and looked quite exasperated with the title she'd been given. So he just reached out and wound and arm around her shoulders, half hugging her to his side, beaming when he felt her put her own arm around his waist and return the squeeze.

~8~

Steve and Olivia stood in the Allied headquarters of London only a few days later, discussing the war and what they had learned in the HYDRA base with different leaders of the Allied armies. There was a map set up, much like the one Steve had glimpsed hanging in the office they'd found Bucky in. He had only gotten a brief look at it, but with all the markings on the map he had known it must have been something quite important to HYDRA, especially to have it kept by one of its main officers. So he had taken care to try and memorize as much of it as he could, trusting Olivia to tend to Bucky while he was distracted.

"The fifth one was here in Poland, right near the Baltic," Steve was explaining as he put a marking on the map in just that place, "And the sixth one was...about here, 30 or 40 miles west of the Maginot Line," he put another marking on the map, nodding to a soldier to take it away and make copies and transmissions to the other Allied forces, informing them of the new information, "I just got a quick look," Steve added humbly.

"You got a better look than I did," Olivia offered.

"Yes, well, nobody's perfect," Peggy remarked, though she had a soft smile on her face, reassuring Steve that all the information he had given was going to be a monumental help to their cause. She led the two over to where Colonel Phillips was standing by yet another map that Bucky had been working on.

"These are the weapon factories we know about," Steve explained to the man.

"Sergeant Barnes said he overheard the enemy speaking about how HYDRA had shipped all the parts to another facility, one that isn't on this map," Olivia added as Bucky nodded, he had hoped he might be able to spot something or recall something more that would help them find the unknown facility but it hadn't happened.

"Agent Carter," the colonel turned to her, "Coordinate with MI6. I want every Allied eyeball looking for that main HYDRA base."

Peggy nodded but also asked, "What about us?"

The colonel just smirked, "We are gonna set a fire under Johann Schmidt's ass," and looked over at Steve and Olivia, "What do you say, Rogers? It's your map, you think you can wipe HYDRA off of it?"

"Yes, sir," Steve agreed, "I'll need a team."

The colonel cut in before Steve could even turn to gesture at Olivia to request her for his team, "You've got Williams onboard as medic," he was not about to separate the two now, not after the outstanding results they had gotten with the 107th, they hadn't lost a single man from injury or infection, "We're already putting together the best men to join you both."

"With all due respect, sir, so am I," he sent a smile at Olivia, something Peggy and Bucky noticed and exchanged looks over.

"Well then, get me their names, and I'll make it official," the colonel stated, "Dismissed."

Bucky stepped over to the super soldier duo, "Major Williams," he began, "If I may, could I speak to you for a moment?"

"Oh, um, yes of course," Olivia agreed, allowing Bucky to lead her across the room to sit by a small desk as he leaned against it.

"Thank you," Bucky spoke, "It's a little hazy, when I think back to HYDRA, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life," he honestly didn't know. He remembered that he sure felt like he was dying, and then she was there and whatever she did to him made him feel so much better and less afraid.

"It was nothing," Olivia gave a shrug, "Just doing my job."

Bucky snorted, shaking his head, knowing it was quite far from the truth. While women were able to enlist in the armies, they were kept far away from the front lines, helping in offices or assisting in headquarters, but not actively engaged with the enemy. And, as far as he knew, there really were no female medics. Nurses, yes, assisting the doctors, but, again very far from the front lines, for their safety. Olivia had literally pushed her way onto the field and acted as a true medic. It was more than just 'doing her job.'

"You are _just_ like Steve," he remarked, noting how humble she was, "I can see why he likes you."

Olivia flushed a little bit, a small smile growing on her face even as she hesitated to ask, "...he likes me?"

"Well that depends, do you like him?"

Olivia nodded, "I do."

"Why?" Bucky asked, not in a cruel way as though he couldn't believe someone would like Steve that way, but more cautious and somewhat suspicious, "Because he's big and strong and famous?"

Olivia felt a small stirring of warmth in her as she realized _why_ he was asking her that. It wasn't that he didn't think Steve was likable, it was that he wanted to make sure she liked him for the right reasons, "I liked him before he took part in Dr. Erskine's procedure."

Bucky blinked at her admission, vaguely familiar with the information she'd given as Steve had explained to him exactly what happened that made him what he was now. He eyed her a moment, "Really?"

"He wasn't like the other men."

"Shrimpy?" Bucky offered in a somewhat teasing way, in a manner only a best friend who had the right to poke fun at you could do.

"Strong."

Bucky's expression turned confused, "You just said you liked him before he was big and strong."

"Strength comes in many forms," she said wisely, "To live the life he has and still want to help, to not let his own shortcomings hold him back?" she shook her head, "It is a remarkably strong man who can stand up even when everything pushes him down. When we would talk..."

"Steve actually TALKED to a dame like you?" Bucky had to cut in, a little stunned Steve had worked up the nerve.

"He was quite charming," Olivia nodded, smiling more as she thought on him, "And determined, with a good heart. He made me smile and laugh and...well, made me feel a bit ashamed too."

Bucky frowned, "If he said something offensive, it's just cos he hasn't had much experience talking to women and..."

"No, no, nothing like that," she reassured him, "Talking to him made me feel normal for once in my life. I was quite sickly before I took part in Dr. Erskine's procedure too, and it was...it was nice to hear someone else had similar ailments. Even the ones we didn't share, like the stomach ulcers he mentioned, it just...what?" she began to frown as well, seeing Bucky giving her an almost disbelieving look that appeared mixed with a bit of embarrassment.

"Nothing," he shook his head, a little stunned honestly that the girl was talking about Steve's numerous ailments with such ease and no sign of disgust, the man had clearly gone in depth about it and she was still smiling at Steve like he was prince charming or something.

"Right," Olivia gave him an odd look before shaking her head, "Hearing about all that, it made me feel less like there was something wrong with ME, if someone else was going through it too. But...he was so strong," she added, "To suffer all that, to go through life that way, and still be out there and on his feet. To find the will and drive to get up and not let it stop him, to want to join the army and fight in a war despite it all? I admit a felt a bit shamed. I was ill too, in hospital a lot, and the most I could do was assist the nurses..."

"Sounds like your stuff was more health and Steve's was more physical," Bucky offered, not really sure how right he might be. Steve didn't get ILL often, not like when he'd been a kid, but he had a lot of other physical problems holding him back. It seemed like, from what Olivia was saying, she had some physical issues but a large part of her life was health concerns and illnesses.

"A bit, I suppose, but...Steve made me feel like I should have been doing more," she shrugged lightly, a smile still on her face, "He makes me want to _do_ more. He was so kind and resolute in his beliefs, so determined and he kept pushing himself to keep going. It was remarkable and something I truly admire about him."

Bucky started to smile again, hearing how genuine she was. The girl really HAD taken a fancy to Steve before he became the man he was now and anyone who could look past Steve's shortcomings, or what most called shortcomings, to see the person he was inside? That was the kind of person he wanted for his best friend. For so long it had only been him that could see the heart of Steve, he was grateful someone else saw how remarkable he was.

"I got it," Bucky told her, "He's more _your type_ ," he managed to tease her, a faint memory drifting through his thoughts of the woman saying HE wasn't her type, but Steve clearly was, "You like him for what's inside, not out."

"Exactly," Olivia agreed, "And, truly, of the two of us, _I_ should be the one more concerned with someone liking me just because of what the serum did to me."

Bucky gave her a questioning look.

"Steve only met me after Phase One was complete," Olivia reminded him, "I didn't look anything like I do now."

Bucky felt himself start to smile, "Trust me, you don't gotta worry about that. Steve isn't the sort to base things like this on what a person looks like. I mean, yeah, you're his type, but..."

"His type?"

Bucky chuckled at that, she sounded a little curious, "Let's just say the girls I tried to set him up with were usually blondes or redheads," he nodded at her own hair which was something of a mix between the two though a bit more blonde, "He woulda loved a girl a little shorter than him, something about getting enough women looking down on him as it was, but it's not an easy thing to find," he glanced at the top of her head, recalling how tall she was. She was just about Agent Carter's height when she wore flats and the Agent heels, but almost came eye to eye with Steve when she wore heels or boots, just short enough to not be awkward but not be taller than him, "And he really isn't the type to judge just based on that. Too many girls did that to him, he wouldn't do that to other people."

"I understand," Olivia mentioned, "I've always felt it best not to judge a book by its cover."

"I don't know you well," Bucky offered, "But what I do know, about what you're like, about you, I like. And I approve. But I gotta tell you," he warned, "Steve is my best friend, and just because you saved my life doesn't mean I won't..."

"Bucky," Olivia interrupted gently, "May I call you Bucky?" she asked, he nodded, "Peggy is my very best mate, my best friend," she told him, "Be honest. Do you _really_ think she's not giving the exact same speech you are me to Steve?"

Bucky casually glanced over to where Steve and Peggy were talking near the wall, the woman looking very firm, stern, and quite a good deal threatening, very scary, while Steve looked reasonably afraid, and chuckled. He looks back at Olivia, "Then you know what I'm trying to say here?"

Olivia smiled and reached out to place a hand on Bucky's arm, "I put myself in the Army, because I wanted to help people and protect them. The _last thing_ I would ever want to do is hurt anyone. Especially Steve."

Bucky nodded and smiled, "I'm glad we understand each other. But, just to be sure, keep in mind I have some training as a sniper."

Olivia just let out a laugh.

Bucky shook his head at her reaction, but for once feeling secure in the thought that this girl wasn't going to hurt his friend. He looked over when Peggy called out for the girl, gesturing her over, and gave her a nod of parting. A moment later, Steve came to lean on the desk beside him.

"So what do you think?" Steve asked.

Bucky wasn't sure if Steve meant about Olivia or the war or the experiment he'd gone through or HYDRA or anything else. But he chose to answer with something that had stuck with him since Olivia mentioned it. He looked over at his friend and shook his head, "I think you're a lucky son of a gun," Bucky told him, before quickly reaching out to pull Steve into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles into the man's hair in a noogie, like old times, "Stomach ulcers? THAT's what you chose to talk to a dame like that about? Really Steve?"

~8~

Steve sat before a table in a bar that was filled with a few of the men from the 107th that he and Olivia had helped rescue. The men at that particular table were just a handful of them, but the ones he had noticed through the window of the factory who were making the more offensive attacks against HYDRA when they were escaping.

"So, let's get this straight," a man, Dugan, began.

"We barely got out of there alive, and you want us to go _back_?" another man, Jones, questioned.

Steve nodded, "Pretty much."

A third man, Falsworth, actually smiled, "Sounds rather fun, actually."

The last man, Morita, let out a belch, before speaking, "I'm in."

Jones turn to another man, Dernier, who was saying something in French to him, before laughing and shaking his hand, turning to Steve, "We're in."

"Hell, I'll always fight," Dugan exclaimed, "But I got two conditions."

"And what are they?" Steve asked.

"I gotta know first," Dugan began, sounding serious, "...that cute girl gonna be with us again?"

Steve's expression tightened, much to the amusement of the men around him, though he didn't seem to notice their reactions, more focused on Dugan and what he'd just said, "Major Williams?"

"Ah, yeah, her," Dugan continued to try and rile up the oblivious Steve, "Major Williams, Olivia's her name right? Good Golly Miss Olie, eh?" he chuckled.

Dugan just barely kept from laughing when he saw Steve's hand curl into a fist on the table as he spoke, " _Major Williams_ , has been assigned as our medic. She'll be there. To tend to wounds and nothing else and you _will_ show her the respect she deserves and address her by her title, _understood_?"

Dugan smirked and held up his hands in a sign of surrender, not sure that Captain America realized quite how threatening he had sounded near the end, "Second," the man continued as though the whole minor altercation hadn't happened, "You gotta open tab for us."

Morita snorted, "Well, that was easy."

Steve let out a small huff, but nodded to the man, getting up and heading right over to the bar, calling out to the bartender, "Another round."

"Where are they putting all this stuff?" the barkeep asked jokingly, but turned to get the drinks together.

Steve looked over when Bucky sat down next to him on a stool, looking much better given the leave he and the other men had been given for their imprisonment, "See? I told you. They're all idiots."

"How about you?" Steve turned to his best friend, "You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?"

"Hell, no," Bucky laughed, "That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight? I'm following _him_. But you're keeping the outfit, right?"

Steve glanced back at a poster that was hanging on the wall, of him in his Captain America costume, a piece of ripped paper just a few inches away as though another poster had been beside it but ripped off, "You know what? It's kind of growing on me."

"It _is_ quite inspiring," a soft voice said behind them.

Steve turned to see Olivia approaching with Peggy. While Peggy was wearing a fitted red dress with her hair perfectly done, Olivia was wearing a different style. She had on a lighter blue dress, sleeveless, with a crisp white collar that reminded him somewhat of the blouses worn on her brown military uniform. There was a white belt around her middle with the dress flowing to her knees and small blue flats on her feet. Her hair was hanging more freely but with a clip on one side.

Steve felt the breath leave him as he took Olivia's appearance in, having not seen her in anything quite so casual before. There was something about the way she was dressed and the way she held herself that brought up a sense of nostalgia in him. Peggy was clearly a woman who knew how to stand out and command respect at the same time, but Olivia struck him more as a woman who preferred to blend in, to not be noticed or the center of attention. He could appreciate that, it was one reason why, when he had been given his Captain America costume, he had asked for a mask. He didn't want to be hounded afterwards when out of his costume, but to also be able to go to a movie or something else and show his support while not taking attention away from the troops.

It was something he still found himself doing at times, dressing as inconspicuously as possible, not wanting to be noticed or draw attention to himself. A remnant, he was sure, that came from his childhood. Sometimes to avoid the bullies, it was best to become invisible. And clearly Olivia wasn't quite comfortable with all eyes being on her.

He couldn't imagine what it must be like for her now, even dressing as she was _his_ attention couldn't help but be drawn to her.

Something Bucky seemed to pick on quite quickly when Steve didn't say another word in greeting.

"Sergeant Barnes," Bucky offered his hand to Peggy to shake as he stood up, having already been introduced to Olivia.

"Agent Carter, but please, call me Peggy," she returned the handshake.

"Bucky, then."

Peggy nodded, glancing over at Steve who was still staring at Olivia, "Captain," she addressed him just somewhat louder than was necessary, to be sure he would hear her.

That seemed to snap Steve out of his thoughts, "Agent Carter," he quickly greeted, "Major W..."

"Steve," Olivia cut in gently with a soft shake of her head and a small smile.

"Liv," he greeted instead with a smile growing on his face in return.

"Ma'am," Bucky gave a respectful nod to Olivia as well. As much as she had offered and told him to call her Olivia or Liv, for any friend of Steve's was a friend of hers, he couldn't quite bring himself to be so informal with the woman who had probably saved his life.

Peggy looked over at Steve, "Howard has some equipment for you to try. Tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds good," he nodded, "Though, speaking of equipment and outfits," he looked at Olivia, "I still need to see this uniform you were talking about."

"No you don't!" Olivia said quickly, "You don't need to see it, _no one_ needs to see it. _Ever_."

"I don't know what you're in such a huff about," Peggy teased with a roll of her eyes, "It's not _that_ awful."

Olivia turned to her, "Then why don't _you_ go around the country dressed like a giant Union Flag?" she challenged.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Steve offered, trying to diffuse the situation...when his words got away from him, "There's nothing you could wear that would make you look awful."

Olivia began to blush at that.

Peggy took pity on her best mate and refrained from teasing her more over the Captain's words, the man himself looking like he was on the verge of starting to sputter, and turned to look around, deciding to change the subject for her. As much as she teased the girl, the uniform truly _was_ a horrendous crime to fashion, "I see your top squad is prepping for duty."

Bucky looked over at her from where she was eyeing the squad drinking their round, "You don't like music?"

"I do, actually. I might even, when this is all over, go dancing."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Bucky held out a hand to Peggy with a charming smile.

Peggy laughed, but took the offered hand, turning to Olivia and Steve, "Joining us?"

"Oh, I thought...perhaps we might...if you would be interested in..." Olivia began to panic as she spoke to Steve, not having been lying about how terrible a dancer she was, "You had a book about mathematics," she blurted out, "In your bunk just before Phase Two. Have you given any thought to the application of angles when in combat?"

Steve blinked, somewhat confused by the change in topic, but replied, "I haven't, no, do you have any thoughts about the subject?"

"I do actually," Olivia stated, letting out a relieved breath that she hadn't mucked it up, "Just over here," she put her hand on Steve's arm and led him over towards a pool table across the room, "I can demonstrate far more easily..."

"I told her not to say it quite that way," Peggy murmured to herself as she stood next to Bucky, the two of them watching as Olivia and Steve gathered around the table, contemplating Olivia's odd way of asking the man if he wanted to play a round of pool with her.

She'd told the girl to just ask, simple as that. Olivia had clearly gotten flustered and went with one of the two things she was most comfortable discussing, maths. At least it wasn't medical jargon. For as...cute, if that were the right word...as she found it now to think back on Olivia's first actual conversation with a man who wasn't Michael or Wells or Dr. Erskine had gone, SHE didn't really want to overhear them discussing such things.

"I can't tell if he's being polite, or if he's actually interested in talking mathematics on a date," Bucky had to agree, slightly confused by the situation as well but honestly able to believe it could be both when it came to Steve.

The two tilted their heads to the same side as they watched Olivia and Steve leaning half on top of the pool table to examine where the balls had broken and seeming to actually be having quite the animated discussion about the next move.

"Looks like they're having fun?" Bucky stated, though it sounded a little more like question than anything, but he nodded to himself, "They look good together, they...fit."

Peggy could only smile softly as she observed her friend, thinking about the experiment that had shaped her and Steve in kind, "You have no idea."

~8~

As Peggy and Olivia walked through the hall of Howard Stark's headquarters, intending to join Steve while they went over different equipment for the field, Olivia's face was as red as a tomato. Peggy was relentless in her teasing about just last night at the bar. While she and Bucky had been sitting off to the side, observing Olivia and Steve on their pseudo-date, she had noticed quite a few things happening.

Like how Steve would position himself around Olivia to help guide her with a certain move on the pool table, or how, whenever Olivia stood on the other side of the table across from Steve, he always missed his shot because his gaze kept drifting up to her. She had spotted Steve holding out a hand to Olivia, clearly asking the girl to dance, and she was not at all embarrassed to admit she had smacked Bucky's arm repeatedly in her excitement before latching onto it and watching with a keen interest if Olivia would accept. Before the girl could even move though, the barkeep had called that they'd be closing. Even though they hadn't gotten to the actual dance, Peggy was SURE that her friend was about to accept, and that was the thing that had her going for hours now with so many teasing remarks. Olivia _never_ danced. But she was sure the girl had almost made an exception for Steve. And the fact that Olivia was flushing so much had to mean she was right.

She supposed she might need to lay off just a little bit, even with the serum helping Olivia out, it was probably quite dangerous for that much blood to be rushing to her face.

She opened her mouth to tell Olivia that she was going to stop for now, perhaps even to apologize for how much teasing she was doing, when she heard Olivia gasp quietly beside her. She looked over to see the girl staring straight ahead with such a pained expression that she quickly looked forward only to see what appeared to be Steve Rogers snogging another woman...

~8~

Steve had never regretted not focusing more on exactly what his level of strength was until he was put in a position of trying to work out how to gently push a woman, Private Lorraine, off of him as the woman kept trying to kiss him. He didn't want to hurt her, he didn't know how much force he needed to use, which was creating quite a conundrum for him. He had just arrived to meet with Howard Stark, to talk about the new equipment, when the woman had noticed him. She had started talk about what a hero he was and how brave he was and how many people he had saved. And no matter how many times he brought up Olivia, trying to give her equal credit, for he knew some of those men may not have even survived the march back to camp had it not been for her, the woman seemed fixated on him. He had gotten truly nervous when she cornered him somewhat and grabbed his tie, talking about how the women of the country owed him their thanks and how _she_ was going to give it in their place and began to kiss him.

Or try to at least, he kept moving his face and turning it, not wanting his first kiss to be with this woman.

And it hit him like a ton of bricks at just that moment: he didn't want _this_ woman to kiss him, because there was _another_ woman he wanted to share his first kiss with, and it was not Private Lorraine.

"Captain!" a voice called down the hall and Steve felt his heart stop, recognizing Peggy's voice. He didn't want to look over, because he knew...usually wherever Peggy was, Olivia was never far behind. But he had to, because he had heard a small gasp as well.

For as much as his revelation about who he wanted to share a kiss with had stunned him, seeing Olivia standing beside Peggy, looking at him with such a pained expression, shook him 10 times worse. She looked confused, but heartbroken, and there was a faint glimmer of something else in her eyes that he was sure only someone who had gone through what he had would recognize. An expectation. It was just like when he'd gone on that double date with Bucky and the girls, he'd expected his date would be more interested in Bucky than him, in anyone else but him. And saw it now, reflected in Olivia's eyes, that she expected that someone would be more interested in others than herself. That was the _last thing_ he _ever_ wanted to see in her eyes especially when directed at him, she was the _only_ one he was interested in.

"Liv!" he quickly pulled away from Private Lorraine and tried to make his way over to Olivia, but Peggy stepped in front of her, blocking the way.

"They're ready for you," Peggy told him firmly, pointing to the side where a door was now open, her expression telling him he had best do exactly as she said or there would be hell to pay, "If you're not otherwise occupied."

"Liv, wait," Steve tried to call as Peggy ushered Olivia through the door first and far away from him.

"I don't feel so well Peggy," Olivia told the woman quietly, "I'm just going to step outside for some air first."

Peggy looked at her with a deep concern, but nodded, "Go," she put a gentle hand on Olivia's shoulder to let her know she would handle any complaints Stark or the colonel might have about her being missing from this meeting.

"Liv," Steve tried to follow after her, but Peggy placed herself in his way once more.

"I think you've done enough," she said sharply, "They need to explain the equipment to you..."

"Well they're gonna have to wait," Steve stated, "I need to explain myself to _her_ first."

"There's not much that needs to be explained," Peggy crossed her arms, "It was quite clear what was happening."

"It wasn't what it looked like!" he stated firmly, "I need to tell her that. So you can either stand in my way or you can stand aside, but either way I am going after her."

Peggy searched his eyes for something, he wasn't sure what, but she must have seen _something_ in them that reflected genuine regret and anger over the situation at hand, because she gave him a single nod...and took a step to the side.

"Captain Rogers," she called as he was halfway down the hall, he turned to face her, "As I warned you before, if you break her heart," she warned, "Serum or not I will find some way to break every bone in your body."

Steve just gave her a salute and continued on his way.

A/N: :'( It was going so well, so sweet, so fluffy, and then Lorraine :( I wonder if Steve will be able to catch up to Olivia and if she'll believe him :'(

On a lighter note, I know 'Good Golly Miss Molly' was a song that came out in 1956, Dugan wasn't referencing the song, he was just sort of making a tease about Olivia's name with rhyming words ;) Also I'm honestly not sure if Steve had kissed anyone before Lorraine kissed him, if he couldn't even ask a girl to dance and not many were eager to date him, I couldn't see him having kissed anyone, and he seemed too respectful to really kiss-kiss anyone he wasn't 'going steady' with or intending to ask out :) So I feel that also sort of explains Bucky's own little 'shovel talk' with Olivia, not that he has to worry about her doing anything to hurt Steve, but I thought it would be something he'd do given how many times Steve likely was hurt by others.

Now, timeline wise, the site I used said that Steve rescued Bucky on November 3rd and returned to base on November 4th. I changed that up here. Because, for one, that would mean less than 24 hours that Steve was gone and he was already being presumed dead? :/ Not likely. Also, the HYDRA base was stated to be in Kreuzberg, Austria, Steve was meeting the troops 5 miles from the front line and performing for the 107th which had been stationed in Azzano, Italy, so I'm assuming it was 5 miles away from Azzano. Using google maps, this is a distance of about 410km or 255 miles. Walking at a normal pace would mean it takes about 90 hours to walk from point A to B non-stop. While the 107th _did_ manage to steal some tanks and other vehicles, it didn't appear they got to many before the factory blew up. We also saw a number of soldiers walking so the chances of them _all_ fitting in the vehicles they did have was small. And they were wounded, AND they would need to stop to rest/eat/tend wounds at some point.

So, walking non-stop puts us at a little less than 4 days. Adding in say 6ish hours of rest per day moves it to about 5 days, plus they're wounded so give or take another day. 6ish days, likely closer to a week since Steve went out to save Bucky. I think it's a little more realistic to think Steve might be dead after a week than a single day, you know? :)

...I think Olivia would be proud of me for working out all that math lol :)

Timeline for this chapter:  
The 107 returns - November 9-10th 1943  
Steve and Olivia return to England to review HYDRA information - Mid November 1943  
That same night Steve gets the Commandos to agree to fight once they're recovered - Mid November 1943 (usually soldiers are given about 30 days of leave, so I imagine they actively start as a team in December)  
The next day Lorraine kisses Steve - Mid November 1943

Some notes on reviews...

From what I understand of WWII, the medics in the field were expected to carry weapons, in defense of the wounded if they were attacked, but it was ultimately up to the medic whether to use it, and some (few, but some) refused to use them. By using it they were fair game to the enemy :( The women of WWII, while allowed to enlist in the army and having their own sort of platoons and such, again just from what I understand of the time, they were still kept far from the main lines. I think I read somewhere that only the Soviet Union, and only once they were truly desperate for aid, allowed women in combat roles in the front line, and they were about 8 percent of the total armed forces. I know some women in Britain were part of the SOE, they were trained to fight and in weapons, but, from what I read, they were mostly utilized as spies and, again, not meant to be right on the front lines. Olivia being a Major and designated a medic is a big thing for her and women at the time. And it sort of explains why her government/country is holding back so much on letting her be in the field. Erskine was the one who got to choose his subjects, and he chose one man and one woman. Part of that, I feel, in choosing a woman is to show what the serum could do to either gender, but more so as an example of 'making stronger' the 'weaker gender' in the sense that, at that time, women were still deemed to be the weaker gender :( If they could take a 'feeble woman' and make her strong, imagine what it would do to a man sort of thing :( So while he chose Olivia and he was pushing for her to be a real Medic, it was still going to take an awful lot for her to get near the front lines, being a woman :( He was pushing for it and so was Olivia, the last chapter was where she sort of took it into her own hands and proved she could do it, and if she can, other women can, sort of paving the way for future positions in the army. But they did hold back a lot on her combat training and weapons training because, in a sense, they never actually intended for her to make it to the front lines, she was supposed to be a figurehead for the war effort but not a real medic, and with her insistence at being a medic as opposed to a 'true soldier' or a spy for the SOE, to them, the training would be wasted if she was just going to focus on the wounded and not working to take down the enemy :( Even Peggy, being a field agent, she seems sort of rare and the only woman around with any training to fight or fire a weapon :( I SO want to get to the place where Olivia can show what she can do and really be a combat medic as we think of today, but it may not happen just yet, largely because of the way women were viewed and held back in this era. She will definitely get to a point where she IS taught how to fight and I have an entire scene dedicated to it which I am very much looking forward to because of how it comes about and the journey it sets Olivia on, but we may have to wait till a different story for it ;) Once the 'war' is over, Olivia won't be a medic any longer and when the story resumes in the modern era there are many more ways for women to be involved and more equality when it comes to combat :) There will also not be wars so much as fights so the 'rules of war' won't apply to her as a medic or a woman and she'll really be able to grow and show her serum-abilities more :) I'm very excited for that part of the story to start :)

That was something I noticed too, how Bucky went from needing Steve to help him walk to being able to run (though struggling to do it) to walking like he was fine :/ It was another reason I wanted to nitpick the timeline of it all. Even with the tanks or vehicles, the few they stole, it wouldn't really be possible for them to reach the main base camp in a day :/ Distance wise and number of soldiers wise, it just isn't possible unless they were all on vehicles and they didn't have that many :/ Changing it to closer to a week also gives them time to recuperate and rest along the way and made a little more sense to me :)

Oh Peggy and Bucky are so going to be partners in crime with pushing these two puppies together ;)


	9. Gains and Losses

Gains and Losses

"Liv," Steve called as he jogged after Olivia, catching up to her in an empty hallway, "Liv, wait..."

"I'm really not feeling well, Steve," Olivia spoke, though her voice was very quiet with her back to him. He was sure, had it not been for the serum improving his hearing, he would have not been able to hear her at all, "I just need some air, I'll be fine. I'll be back down in a few minutes..."

Steve jogged faster, reaching out with his right hand lightly to touch her left arm as he moved in front of her, feeling terrible when he saw that her eyes were wet with tears, but she did not let them fall, "Liv, it wasn't what it looked like, I promise, that woman just..."

"It's fine," Olivia cut in, taking a deep breath as she looked up at him, "It's..."

"It's not fine, especially not if it upsets you," Steve insisted. He reached up with his left hand touch the side of her face, "She tried to kiss me, I didn't want her to. But I don't know...I'm not...the only time I've used my strength was in the shows or when we broke the 107th out of that factory. I don't know what it takes around someone who's not an enemy."

Olivia looked up at him with a small frown on her face, her eyes searching his much the same way Peggy's had done. He let his right hand trail down from the grip he still had on her arm to take her hand, squeezing it. He pleaded with her silently to believe him, to understand.

"I was joking with Peggy once," Olivia murmured, "Just hours after Phase One and I...I shoved her in the arm, like I always did whenever she teased me too much. But I didn't know my strength and it was too hard, she stumbled and fell, because of _me_ ," her voice broke on the last three words, "I was afraid to hug her for so long after that, because I never want to hurt her or anyone."

"That's the _only_ reason I didn't push that woman off sooner," Steve swore, though it felt like a weight had lifted off his chest, seeing that she really did understand and seemed to believe him, "I literally don't know my own strength," he admitted, "But Liv, I swear, _I promise_ , I didn't kiss her and I didn't want to kiss her. When I realized what was happening I tried to find a way to keep it from happening without hurting anyone. I'm sorry that it hurt _you_."

Olivia was silent a moment or two, before she spoke again "I don't know why it hurt so much," she admitted as well, "We're friends, we're partners in the war, but we're not..."

"Together?" Steve finished for her.

They fell into silence and Steve couldn't help but keep looking at her, he didn't want to presume anything, but the way she reacted to seeing him, or to thinking she had seen him, kiss someone else gave him a strange sort of hope and a warmth blooming in his chest. So he took a breath and gathered all the courage he could muster. This wasn't going to be just asking a pretty girl to dance he knew, he would need to be braver than he ever had been.

"But I want us to be," he said quickly.

Olivia looked up at him sharply for that, "...you do?"

Steve nodded, "That is, if it's something you want too," he stuttered slightly, feeling his courage starting to fade now that he got the first few words out, "I don't want to ruin our partnership in the war, or our friendship, so if you don't...I just...we can forget I said..."

"I want us to be, too," Olivia spoke.

Steve felt himself smile, "Yeah?"

Olivia nodded this time, starting to smile as well, "Yes."

"That's...great, wonderful, I'm _really_ glad to hear that," he told her, "When that lady, just then..." he didn't say exactly what it was, not wanting to relive it any more than he was sure she wanted to hear it, "I realized something. About you, about us, about me."

Olivia had tensed when he began to speak about the incident once more, but relaxed slight we when he continued, "What?"

"I haven't ever done that before," he spoke slowly, "And I didn't want _that_ to be the first time."

Olivia was slightly embarrassed when it took her more than a moment or two to realize what he was saying, "I've never kissed anyone either," she replied.

Steve felt his heart pounding against his chest at her words and opened and closed his mouth for a few seconds, trying to work out how to phrase what he wanted to say. Before just going with his courage one more time, "May I?" he asked.

Olivia gave him a soft smile and took a step closer to him, lifting her chin slightly in invitation. Steve smiled and leaned in as well, lowering his head to press his lips to hers for the first time.

Steve was quite sure that, if he could find every single fireworks display he'd ever seen on the 4th of July throughout his entire life, they would never compare to the ones he saw behind his eyes as he kissed his best girl.

~8~

Howard Stark looked up when he heard the door to his testing room open to see Steve and Olivia walking in. He gave them a little smirk when he noticed they were holding hands and seeming to actually realize that they were doing it this time. He walked over to them, "Got enough air?" he asked Olivia, waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Olivia closed her eyes a moment, shaking her head, before she opened them to fix Stark with a pointed look, "You had equipment you needed to go over?"

"Fine, fine, it's all work with you two, isn't it?" he asked, though he didn't appear to expect an answer as he turned to lead them to the various pieces of equipment littered around the room, "Carbon polymer," he gestured to a piece of cloth lying on a table, "Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although HYDRA's not going to attack you with a pocket knife, but it should be helpful and durable enough to make some kind of medpack out of it," he looked to Olivia for that, earning a smile. He continued down a line of items, pausing when they reached the tin shield Steve had been using when they broke into the 107th's holding cells, riddled with bullet holes and a dent where Schmidt had punched it, "I hear you're uh…kinda attached?"

Steve shrugged, "It's handier than you might think."

Stark nodded, leading him over to another table where he had made some adjustments to the idea of the shield, "I took the liberty of coming up with some options," he gestured to a few that were lying about in various shapes and sizes, pausing before one in particular, "This one's fun. She's been fitted with electrical relays. It'll allow you to…"

Steve, however, looked down the line of different shields, moving over to Olivia's side as she picked up one that was very simple and round, in a somewhat bulls-eye-like manner with the ridges on the front of it. She handed it over to him and he turned it over in his hands, "What about this one?" he called.

"No, no," Stark made his way over, taking the shield from him and examining it, "That's just a prototype."

"What's it made of?" Olivia asked, "It was very light, even for us."

"Vibranium. It's stronger than steel and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent."

"How come it's not a standard issue?" Steve wondered, it would have probably saved many lives in battle if it had been.

"That's the rarest metal on earth. What you're holding there? That's all we've got."

Steve took the shield back, flipping it over in his hands as he tested it, before slipping his arm through the straps on the back of it and holding it in front of him, turning to Olivia to see what she thought of it.

"You look like you're holding a giant target in front of you," she remarked, concern in her voice.

"Better they be shooting at the thing that can't break, than our troops," Steve reasoned.

"You quite finished, Mr. Stark?" a voice called as Peggy stepped into the room to join them, pausing at the end of a small table of firearms, "I'm sure the Captain has some _unfinished business,_ " she spat the last words with a fierce glare in his direction.

Steve looked over at her, glancing between Peggy and Olivia, before trying to be polite and show her there was no misunderstanding between the two of them any longer, that he'd managed to explain himself to Olivia. He didn't want to cause a scene with Olivia's best friend, so he held up the shield and asked, "What do you think?"

Peggy merely turned and grabbed a gun off of the table to fire at Steve, who quickly pulled Olivia behind him and held up the shield to block the bullets.

"Peggy!" Olivia called, rushing out from behind him to go storm over to her friend once the barrage was over, wanting to get to her and stop her before she made to reach for another firearm on the table.

She knew Peggy's aim was impeccable, she was literally aiming for Steve's shield, but she didn't appreciate that fact either. She had, of course, intended to explain the situation to Peggy, but she hadn't been able to find her on the way down with Steve. It appeared she might have gone to look for HER during that time and they'd just missed each other. Still, she hadn't thought Peggy would actually shoot at Steve over something that happened when she and the man weren't even together-together...

She almost smacked herself, what was she thinking? _Of course_ Peggy would do that! She was honestly surprised the woman hadn't waited till he lowered the shield to fire one more bullet at his arm or something. The last time a boy hurt her Peggy had tackled the boy to the ground, pinned his arm behind him, and shoved his face into the mud until he shouted apologies. They had been 10 and the boy in question had only tripped her while she and Peggy had been walking through town. Peggy could be quite...protective, even more so now that Michael had passed. One time a young man had shouted at her and Michael had gotten into a round of fisticuffs over it, she'd been 16 at the time and he had taken her and Peggy to the cinema for her birthday. She'd had a rather bad round of allergies and tried her best not to be too disruptive with her sneezing, apparently the man hadn't been quite so understanding of her efforts.

She had honestly, at times, been a bit thankful for her ill health. She had promised herself never to court a man while she was ill, so as to keep him from having to tend to her when she would undoubtedly fall ill next. Between the Carter siblings, she was sure, had she tried dating, they would have either scared the lad off or put the fear of god in him to the point where he'd be to frightened to so much as look at her, let alone speak to her or touch her.

If this didn't send Steve running, she would be sure he was truly meant for her.

"Yes, I think it works," Peggy merely put down the gun, sending Steve a pointed and warning look, silently telling him that she could and would go through with her promise if he stepped out of line again, before she turned to storm out of the lab, speaking quietly and in hissed tones with Olivia as the girl argued with her on the way out.

"Um...I had some ideas about the uniform?" Steve muttered, turning to hand Stark a piece of paper, honestly not sure what he should do about what just happened, whether he should go after Peggy and explain or let Olivia handle it.

He was leaning more towards Olivia, Peggy was a scary broad.

"Whatever you want pal," Stark remarked, sounding as startled as Steve felt, taking the paper from him and glancing down at the notes Steve had made, "Gotta say, yours is looking a lot better than hers."

Steve looked over, about to ask the man what he meant by that, only to see the man had been jerking a thumb over his own shoulder before he walked away. Steve stepped closer to the wall, noticing that it was lined with pictures and newspaper clippings in frames. There was one picture of Olivia, standing next to the Prime Minister and shaking his hand, somewhat ripped at the top.

He gave a small laugh when he finally took in exactly what her uniform was like. The pictures had gotten it at just the right angle where he could see the front of her uniform in one photo and most of the back on another. It seemed like their Allies across the pond were not one to be one-upped by Captain America having a specific, and very patriotic, uniform. Olivia was standing there in what looked like a white jumpsuit, with blue boots that went up to her knees, and thick red stripes going down the front and across the middle of her uniform, with more stripes forming an X as though she were just a giant Union Flag. The gloves that she wore on her hands went up to her elbows and were also blue in color. She even had a cape attached to the back of her uniform that was literally like a giant Union Flag dangling from her shoulders, the blue of the back of it outlining against her front for the full effect of a flag. She really did look like a Union Flag from the front and back. Her hair, at least, seemed to just be pulled back in a very tight bun, but she was wearing the most ridiculous hat, in his opinion. It looked like a crown of sorts, but sitting on top of a soldier's helmet, and she was holding a scepter, much like he imagined a king or queen would hold during a coronation, in her hand. It looked as though they were trying to combine his uniform and military-style with all the regalia of the monarchy in one outfit.

He understood why she hated it. It was symbolic, of course, and clearly meant to honor her country and people and history, but it was just too much.

Although he had been right in his earlier statement, despite how horrendous the outfit was, Olivia still look beautiful.

~8~

Peggy smiled as she sat at the cinema, Colonel Phillips beside her, as they were given a preview of a collection that had been made over the year. As it was a military collage, the army had to approve it before it was allowed to be released, to ensure there were no government secrets or information to be gathered from the images. It was a montage of the efforts Olivia and Steve had been making against HYDRA and the Nazis, a year in the making, spanning nearly all of 1944. Between the two soldiers, and aid from Howard Stark and the 'Howling Commandos' as Steve's group had come to call itself, the Allies had never stood a better chance of pushing back against the Nazis. It seemed like, at the forefront of every attack, was Steve, Olivia, and the Howling Commandos.

As the preview went on, she was pleased to see it wasn't just following Captain America and his squad, but the efforts of Major Britannia as well. The combined armies were very careful about when they would stage their attacks. While HYDRA was a very large enemy to be dealt with and one of the highest importance to destroy due to the fact that they created most of the weapons the Nazis were using, there was still a war being fought on other sides.

Captain America had seemed to take on HYDRA, but Major Britannia found herself being recalled from the Commandos a time or two, moving to the main lines when a major battle was about to occur, knowing her expertise as a medic and also as the subject of Dr. Erskine's experiments could mean a changing of the tide in those battles. She was still kept from the very front lines, always ordered to remain behind them as their country felt they were making an enormous exception in allowing a woman to be an active medic that close to the lines. But she still did her part, followed that request, and had saved numerous lives with how quick and strong she was. There was even a clip of her hauling two men at once off the field over her shoulders and not breaking a sweat, which was quite impressive. As far as Peggy knew, Steve often offered to go with her, volunteering to move to the front lines with the other soldiers, but the U.S. Army kept him back to plan out their next attack on HYDRA, take out the weapons and the Nazis would fall was their reasoning. She could imagine it was very hard on the two, to have just started a relationship in the middle of the war, and constantly be pulled apart by one battle or another. Despite that, they both looked happy in the clips, to be doing their parts, Olivia even more so that she was dressed in army garb and not the monstrosity that was her 'uniform' during her time giving speeches. Dealing with so much blood and dirt would show up quite a lot on such a white uniform so it had been scrapped in favor of one more like the other soldiers, thank the lord.

But she smiled as the footage continued on to not just the attacks, but planning that led up to them and even just the camaraderie between the team. The men all seemed to take Olivia under their wing, from what the film appeared to show. There were clips of the men being beaten terribly by Olivia in a game of cards, clearly not knowing her skills with math yet, moments of her taking care of them and their wounds, some exaggerating either how much they were wounded or how much the solutions she used stung for laughs. There was one clip in particular of Dugan making a show of his wound and tapping himself on the cheek, leaning in towards Olivia in a clear sign he wanted her to 'kiss it and make it better' only for Steve to sneak up next to her and playfully, and very lightly, punch Dugan exactly where he'd tapped, earning laughs from the men. Some moments showed Bucky and Olivia talking and laughing, Steve joining them with an arm around Olivia's waist, Bucky smiling so widely at his friend, clearly just SO happy for him. And even a moment or two of one of the other men putting an arm around Olivia's shoulder or some other small gesture, only to remove it quickly when the camera caught sight of the look Steve shot the men.

She, apparently, wasn't the only one to know that Steve and Olivia had begun something of a courtship, not if the preview was anything to go by. Somehow it seemed like the entire world knew that Captain America and Major Britannia were partners in more ways than one. The papers and comics had gone wild with tell of the romance between the two, the spirit of the people at an all time high for it. People loved a good love story, and to be able to have one in the middle of such a war, it was just what the people needed, to know there was still hope. She could admit she'd been hesitant to accept her friend's beau, especially after the incident with Private Lorraine, but Olivia explained why Steve didn't just push the woman away given his limited knowledge of his strength. She could imagine he was so flustered by a woman being THAT forward with him that his words failed him in trying to get her to stop. He was a stuttering mess around Olivia before they got together and Olivia was the least intimidating person she knew. That and, well, Private Lorraine had actually approached Olivia, while she'd been arguing with the girl, to apologize about it. It was such bad form to try and steal a soldier away from 'his girl' during times like this, it was hard to be in a relationship with a soldier in general, but to be Major Britannia and actually supposed to be fighting IN the war? The woman had felt awful that she'd made a move on a taken man and explained it was all HER doing and Steve had done his best to try and brush her off, but she hadn't listened. It had done quite a lot towards redeeming Steve in Peggy's eyes, though it seemed, at the moment, her eyes were not the only ones privy to those sweet moments between Steve and Olivia.

The footage continued on to reveal glimpses of Olivia and Steve together. Peggy watched with a soft look as she saw her friend and Steve huddled close together on a crate, reading a book in Steve's hands. Another clip of Steve with a cut on his arm that Olivia was tending with a single-minded focus, all the while Steve was smiling and staring at her like the besotted fool he was. There were moments of the Commandos gathered around a fire, Olivia beside Steve on a log and dozing with her head on his shoulder and Steve gazing at her with the softest look she'd ever seen a man give a woman. Even more clips of the Commandos in the background making kissing faces at the two when they couldn't see, grinning or laughing at Steve or Olivia when the other spoke something that made them blush, even seeming to teasingly push them together at times or trip them so the other could catch them. There was a moment captured where they were about to head out on a mission and Olivia tugged Steve closer to give him a kiss for good luck. Her favorite, though, was when Olivia had clearly returned from a recall to the lines and was back to assist the Commandos and Steve pulled her into a tight hug, spinning her around while she laughed at his antics. Just a montage of the two finding happiness whenever they could.

Her mind drifted back to a memory, a brief moment, not even two weeks, where she had been able to join the small team and witness that happiness for herself. She often found herself assigned to oversee the battles where Olivia had been recalled from the Commandos, it wasn't as though she never saw her friend during that year. But it had been different, the last time. It hadn't been for any sort of battle, just...time to be together. It was near Christmas time, Steve had given Olivia a beautiful gift and she had helped Olivia give him one in return, though it had taken a few days past Christmas, with the war. She was so overjoyed that she had been there to spend that time with her best mate and the man she loved, with friends all around.

Peggy had never been prouder of her sister.

~8~

Olivia took a deep breath as she crouched down, taking in the view of a frozen, snowy mountainside. She was back with Steve and the Howling Commandos from the latest battle on the lines, ready for what might be one of their most important strikes against HYDRA yet. She and Steve gathered with Bucky, keeping watch, while the other men prepared a series of zip lines for a train that they could see approaching in the distance.

Bucky looked at Steve, "Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?"

Steve nodded, "Yeah, I and I threw up?"

He could see Bucky casting a glance over at Olivia for his words, how bluntly he talked about being so ill. But Olivia didn't even flinch, didn't even look at him with any sign of disgust or horror at hearing such a thing. And Steve felt himself smile at the reaction. He had always felt, especially around women, that he needed to downplay exactly what he was feeling, or how badly he was feeling. Not wanting to offend or disgust them. It felt different with Olivia, not just because she was a medic and she saw far worse every day, but because of the past he knew she had, her medical history. It seems like she had been more ill than he had throughout his life. He couldn't describe how it felt to be able to talk to someone who understood exactly what it was like going through life battling ailment after ailment, and still wanting to keep going. She understood what it was to be a weak, physically and emotionally and health-wise.

He could talk about a time where he may have thrown up on something as small as the Cyclone and feel like she wouldn't judge him for it or see him as being a lesser man because of it.

"This isn't payback, is it?"

Steve smirked, "Now why would I do that?"

"Remind me to tell you about the time Peggy thought I should learn how to ride a horse, because 'fresh air would be good for me and it would also help strengthen my muscles,'" Olivia smiled as she looked over her shoulder and up at Steve and Bucky, "It was an interesting day to learn that, not only was I was allergic to horses, but it IS possible to get motion sickness while riding one."

The two men started to laugh lightly, when Jones hurried over, "We were right," he reported, "Dr. Zola's on the train. HYDRA dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle. Wherever he's going, they must need him bad."

Falsworth stepped up as well, "Let's get going, because they're moving like the devil."

"Liv?" Steve looked over at her as she stood, watching the engine going with a narrowed eye and scrunched face.

She nodded, "Estimating the rate it's traveling, distance it's covering, and how fast the zip lines can take us? You'll have about a 10 second window," she looked over at the men, " _Don't_ miss the window. Even as your medic, I won't be able to help if you're splattered on the windshield."

"Mind the gap," Falsworth muttered as Steve, Bucky, and Jones got hooked up to the lines.

Olivia walked over to Steve, double checking his harness, "Be careful," she murmured to him, leaning in to give him a quick peck on the lips.

He smiled at her, pulling her in for one more, for one kiss was never enough, "I'll be fine," he reassured her, "Got my good luck charm right here," he patted his chest where a necklace she had given him rested beneath his uniform, just by his heart.

"And I'll have his back," Bucky promised.

Olivia moved over to check Bucky's harness as well, "You be careful too," she pointed a warning finger between them, "I don't want any of you harmed, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Bucky saluted.

She glanced over at the train getting nearer and stepped back, "Ready yourselves."

"Better get moving, bugs!" Dugan called over to the other men at her words, "You heard Miss Olie!"

"Dugan!" Steve attempted to snap at the man for using the odd nickname the Commandos had seemed to adopt for Olivia, but Dernier called out "Maintenant!" on Olivia's command to signal them to take off and so they did, heading straight for the train.

Olivia and the other Commandos quickly got in position, watching the train, ready to join them as the second and third wave as soon as the train stopped moving. That was Bucky, Steve, and Jones's mission for the initial attack, they just had to stop the train moving and then the rest of the Commandos and Olivia could surround it.

"Binoculars," Olivia called, holding out a hand as one of the men handed it over. She brought it to her eyes quickly, watching the train as it went. Reasonably she knew how long it should take them to reach the front of the train from where they breached its walls, even with the agents that had to be within to guard Zola. She kept track of every HYDRA soldier that was thrown off the side of the train, watching closely for any other signs that the train would stop soon.

She gasped suddenly when there was a blast through the side of the train and she could see Bucky flying through it, grabbing on to a piece of metal hanging off of the train. Not a moment later, Steve had appeared, hanging outside of the train, reaching a hand for Bucky, trying to pull him in...

She watched in horror as the metal gave way and Bucky fell off the side of the train and towards the frigid river waters below...

~8~

London had clearly suffered quite a blow, Olivia noted grimly as she walked through part of the city that had been destroyed by the bombs. She stopped just in front of what was left of the bar they had all gathered in when the Howling Commandos were formed, her hand gripping the end of a necklace Steve had gotten her in return, great minds and all.

They had managed to capture Zola, after suffering the heavy loss of Bucky Barnes. Jones had managed to stop the train, only moments after they cleared the waters, the Commandos had surrounded the train, and Olivia had done her best to try and salvage the situation. But there was not much that could be done. While the men had gone rounding up Zola and Steve was focusing on the mission, she had taken part in a mission of her own, hoping she could find something, anything, that could help. The only injuries sustained on that mission were things far beyond what she could heal as a medic.

She looked over when she felt a hand on her shoulder to see Peggy had stepped up beside her with a solemn look. Peggy glanced at the torn down bar and back at her friend, "You don't have to do this," she told the girl softly, knowing it would be hard for her. While Olivia had seen death and fatal wounds in the Hospital, since she'd been on the field, the number had dwindled, and she had never been the one to have to send out condolence notes. The only time she could recall Olivia needing to give condolences was when Michael died. SHE had more experience than Olivia in that case, she'd given them to the girl when her father passed of a heart condition, and then her mother later, just shortly before the war began, and expressed it to a handful of soldiers and families through her time with the SSR, "I can go speak to him if you'd like."

Olivia shook her head, "I can do it," she told Peggy, "I _have_ to do it. If it had been you, Peg..." she couldn't even finish what she was saying, not ever wanting to think about what it would have been like had it been Peggy she had lost the same as Steve had Bucky.

It wouldn't have been the same if it came from Peggy, Olivia knew. It would have been enormously comforting, she was sure, Peggy could never be cruel or callous when speaking of the dead. But she just felt in her heart that it wouldn't be the same. She and Steve were so alike, both so ill and so weak they needed someone else in their lives to help look out for them. That had been Peggy and Bucky, and both had gone out into the war, leaving their friends behind to constantly wonder if they were alright or dead.

While she hadn't lost Peggy physically, she had spent enough time imagining it and fearing it that she knew she could relate far more to Steve's loss. And she and Steve were together now, she should be in there comforting him and being there for him in his hour of need.

She took a deep breath and made her way inside the bar, leaving Peggy on the street, the woman giving them some privacy. When she finally came upon Steve, he was sitting at a table, with a bottle of schnapps beside him and a small glass in his hand. It was as though everything she had planned to say left her mind. She had wanted to tell him that Zola had been interrogated by Colonel Phillips, how he had used the scientist's fear of death and desire to live against him, creating a fake message to be sent to Washington that would have surely been intercepted by the Nazi party, making it seem as though Zola had turned against HYDRA. Zola had only one option left if he wanted to live: to assist the Allies against Schmidt who would most certainly kill him upon sight now.

The man had given in fully.

It didn't seem as important to let him know that now as she saw how deeply he was grieving his friend. No amount of knowledge about Zola or the information they were gaining against HYDRA would ever bring Bucky back.

She looked over to the side, hearing a noise, and only just realized Steve was listening to the radio.

"Blackout is still in effect throughout the London area. Please wait for the all-clear. Your attention, please. All citizens shall remain indoors until further notice. Blackout is still in effect throughout the London area..."

"It won't help," she told him gently, moving to sit beside him at the table, reaching out to place her hand on his as it held the glass of liquor, "We can't get drunk."

"I thought," Steve began, absently letting go of the glass to turn his hand and hold hers more firmly, "Maybe _this_ would be the one thing Dr. Erskine would be wrong about. He said the serum wouldn't just effect muscles but cells too. Create a protective system of regeneration and healing."

"Our metabolism burns four times faster than average as a result, burns off alcohol too," Olivia explained. She had never been drunk, her various medications didn't allow for alcohol, but beyond that, she preferred tea. Her mother had always said that a good cuppa could cure anything. She doubted it could cure this.

"What I wouldn't give for him to have been wrong about this," Steve repeated.

Olivia shook her head gently even as she squeezed his hand tighter, "I only knew him a short while, but I don't think Bucky would have wanted you to drink yourself into a stupor over him. He seemed more the sort to say kick their ass for me."

Steve let out a wet laugh, both at hearing her curse and the message itself, "Yeah, that was Buck."

Olivia moved closer to him, "What happened on that train was _not_ your fault, Steve."

"Did you read the reports?"

"I don't have to, I was there, I saw it through the binoculars. You did absolutely _everything_ you could to reach him in time. The train gave way, the metal was too warped, you _couldn't_ have done anything."

"I should have been _faster_. That was the whole point of the serum, wasn't it? That we would be faster, that we would save lives."

"By that logic, it's my fault twice as much," Olivia reasoned gently, continuing even when he tried to speak, "I'm just as fast, possibly a bit faster, AND I'm the medic. I was put on the field to save the lives of the wounded, and I couldn't save him," she felt tears coming but refused to let them fall, this wasn't about HER right now, it was about Steve. The only reason she brought up her position was because she knew he'd argue it wasn't her fault, that she couldn't have done anything even with her abilities, which was exactly the argument she was making with him, "I helped him once, I should have been able to again and..."

"It wasn't your fault," Steve argued, just as she thought.

"It wasn't _yours_ either," Olivia insisted, "Do you think Bucky would have wanted the mission to fail over him? Do you think he would have been proud? Do you think he would have wanted us to lose the one chance we had at getting Zola and ending the war? He made his choice to go on that mission, he believed in you, Steve, he believed in ending the war."

"He shouldn't have had to die for it."

"Would you do anything to end this war?" Olivia asked him.

"Yes."

"Even die for it?" Steve was silent as he realized where she was taking this, the corner he'd walked himself into, "Bucky had the right to give whatever he felt necessary to ending this war, it is _not_ your right to decide whether what he gave was too much."

It would kill her, she was sure, if Peggy had been killed in action. She would have blamed herself, exactly as Steve was, and she would hope someone would say the same to her. She would have hoped someone would try to convince her it wasn't her fault, to remind her Peggy had died with honor and for a cause she believed in. That Peggy would never have wanted her to blame herself or give up. She wasn't sure it would actually help her or convince her, but she would have wanted someone to care enough to TRY. And so she was trying for Steve too, because she cared about him, _so much_.

Steve had to look away, hearing an echo of words he had said to Bucky himself, about wanting the right to be able to fight in the war just like anyone else, that he had no right to do less than the men laying down their lives for their countries.

"You want to honor his death?" Olivia continued, seeing she was getting through to him, "Then don't let it be for nothing, don't let it destroy you. Let it be something that helps end the war."

Steve looked down when he heard something tap against the table to see Olivia had placed a small chain on it. He reached out and picked it up, staring with wide eyes at the dog tags on the end of it. _Bucky's dog tags_. He turned her sharply, "Where did you get these?"

"A daft part of me thought maybe he survived," she told him softly, her voice cracking and so she cleared it, willing herself to be strong for him, "While you were all securing Zola, I went to check the waters. The speed, momentum, distance..." she trailed off, not wanting to get into the logistics and all the mathematics she had done in her head to determine where Bucky might have fallen, "I'm sorry, there was nothing but these," she looked to the tags, "Washed up on the side of the river," it had been moving too swiftly to freeze despite the temperature of the mountains, it wasn't likely Bucky survived the fall, and if he had, the time he would have been in the frigid river would have done him in as well.

Steve wound the dog tags around his hand, nodded to himself now that he had a piece of Bucky with him, to remind him of everything his friend had given to the war and everything he was willing to do to see it end, "I'm goin' after Schmidt. I'm not gonna stop till all of HYDRA is dead or captured."

Olivia squeezed is hand tightly, "'Dead men tell no tales,'" she recited, thinking back to 'Treasure Island' all those years ago, "The more information we have, the sooner we can end the war."

"You're just saying that because you're a medic," Steve remarked though there was a gentleness in his tone, at how she was trying to lead him towards less killing and more capturing.

She shook her head and leaned towards him, "I'm saying it because you are a _good man_ in here," she moved to tap his chest with her other hand, just like Dr. Erskine had done before he passed, "The serum amplifies everything, I'd imagine even our grief. Don't let it amplify your hurt into a desire to hurt others."

Steve let out of breath at that, not even having realized that could have been what might happen, but feeling a warmth spread through him for the first time since he stood on that mountain, to know that, even when he felt like he had lost himself, he still had Olivia there to help him find his way back. He wondered idly if that was what Dr. Erskine had been trying to tell them when he gestured between the two of them before tapping his chest all that time ago. That they needed to look out for each other, keep each other's hearts safe. Whatever the man meant, he knew he was safe, his heart was safe, in Olivia's hands.

He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, resting his forehead to hers, pulling away a moment later, "Thank you," he whispered.

"You are not alone in this," Olivia told him, moving her hand to his cheek, brushing her thumb under his eye as a tear fell for his fallen friend, "As long as I'm here you will never be alone."

~8~

Steve, Olivia, Peggy, Stark, the Howling Commandos, and Colonel Phillips all gathered together at the Allied headquarters, ready to come up with their final battle plan to take down Schmidt, or as he was broadcasting himself now, Red Skull, once and for all. Now that they had Zola, they had an inside look into Schmidt's plans, too many of them would be unable to change so soon, though the man seemed even more deranged and arrogant than ever, from the reports they were getting. Despite knowing they had Zola with them and were now aware of every plan he had in store, the man didn't appear to be changing anything. If anything, he seemed even more eager to set his plans in action.

They refused to allow any more innocent lives to be lost, they would not allow Schmidt to launch his plans anywhere and attack the civilians. No, they were going to be taking the battle to him, right to his own base.

"Johann Schmidt belongs in a bug house," the colonel spoke to those gathered, "He thinks he's a God. He's willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA."

"Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities," Howard Stark warned them, going over the various notes he had taken from his own interrogation with Zola about the weapons and science the Nazis were implementing, "He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire eastern seaboard in an hour."

Jones let out of breath at that, "How much time we got?"

The colonel sighed, "According to my new best friend, under twenty four hours."

The Frenchman, Dernier, spoke next, "Where is he now?"

"HYDRA's last base is here," the colonel held up a photo, pointing at where they finally knew the main camp was located, "In the Alps. Five hundred feet below the surface."

Morita shook his head at that,"So, what are we supposed to do. I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door."

"Why not?" Steve asked, looking at the men and women around him, "That's _exactly_ what we're gonna do."

Olivia bit her lip at the tentative beginnings of their plan, "If I was a barmy Nazi who peels off my own face," she began, "I certainly wouldn't expect that. But...we need to make _sure_ that they let us in," she looked at Steve, "It needs to be the two of us," she told him.

Steve's expression grew grim at the realization, but he had to concede the point that sweetening the deal with both of them would ensure they'd be captured and not killed, "He's got a thing for taunting," he informed the colonel, "He won't be able to resist lording it over two test subjects as opposed to just one."

They looked at each other and nodded, already willing to do what it took on this mission. They were going to take down HYDRA if it was the last thing they did.

A/N: I originally had the first part of the chapter, up until Steve kisses Olivia as the end of the prior chapter, but I sort of wanted to end it on a bit of cliffhanger sort of thing. And I felt like it would be a good way to start this chapter, the start of their relationship and teamwork with the Commandos, and end the chapter just before their last fight against HYDRA :)

Which brings to mind...now they are official! And we need a pairing name! :D So drop a review with any suggestions you have for a pairing between Olivia Williams and Steve Rogers (or Captain America and Major Britannia) and I'll gather them up. I won't be posting a poll for it until the next Olivia story (the Avengers) is posted, just to give some time to collect names since the story will be over tomorrow (OMG it's going to be over tomorrow!) and we'll do the vote/poll during Avengers :)

Also, with Olivia's reaction compared to Peggy's. Peggy always seemed to me like a person on the offense, in the sense that she'd be ready and willing to fight and shoot and punch people, she wouldn't hold back when she's angry. Olivia is not on the offense, she's quieter, a little more subdued, and I think it comes from her health being what it was. Peggy sort of HAD to be the strong one between the two of them and Olivia spent a good deal of time playing off how badly she felt so as not to upset those around her. She was honest with the doctors and is honest in what she thinks of others/things that are important, but when it came to things that upset others, she'd be a little more careful in how she puts things. I felt that played up here. Olivia isn't the sort to shoot at someone who hurts her, she'd step away, regroup, and come back in with a smile on her face to cover up her hurt. She is very aware that she and Steve, while they have this friendship/connection, are not in a relationship and Steve isn't hers to get upset over, as much as he may feel like he is hers already.

It sort of parallels how Steve felt on that double date with Bucky and the girls. He sort of expected that his date would be more interested in Bucky because he was more impressive compared to Steve (in Steve's mind). Olivia feels something of the sort here, a part of her sort of expects that Steve would be with someone else because, to her, she's always going to be that sickly girl in the Hospital and still not used to what she's like now. She's got that expectation that she'll be passed up for other pretty girls because that's all she's experienced, boys overlooking her. So with that sort of expectation and mentality and personality, I couldn't see her reacting the same way as Peggy. Even after the serum, it's going to take her quite a while to actually get used to being how she is now. She's been held back, she hasn't got as much training as Steve, she hasn't been on the offense or using most of her abilities beyond being fast and strong, so she sort of can still picture herself as someone in the background. I think the 2010s will be something very helpful to her in terms of really finding her inner strength and realizing her full potential, to realizing her own importance and standing on her own :)

Timeline for this chapter:  
Peggy tries to shoot Steve for hurting Olivia - Mid November 1943  
The team attacks HYDRA - All of 1944, though starting in December of 1943  
Bucky perishes/Zola captured - February 1st 1945  
Olivia speaks to Steve - February 3rd 1945  
They plan on how to take down Schmidt - February 4th 1945

Some notes on reviews...

I definitely think Bucky ships them so hard :) I picture him and Peggy fighting over who is the captain of the ship and who's the first mate lol :) I agree, the food along the way was probably much better in terms of taste, but I feel like the soldiers would also not want to take too many resources and, after being imprisoned, the men might be given some leave to recuperate where they'd get even better food wherever they decide to go for that duration :)

Oh Lorraine, I really wanted to skip over that scene, but I felt like it would sort of show more about Olivia's personality and Steve's relationship with her. He's sort of fallen harder for Olivia because they've spoken more than he did with Peggy and he got to know more about her earlier. Peggy, also, I think, could hold in her emotions more than Olivia can, and Steve would not be able to just let Olivia walk off upset :)

Oh I'm definitely doing a Bucky/OC :) I have a plan to post a Star Trek Bones/OC story first, but then I'll be doing Bucky, so probably next year we'll get them :)

There are certainly going to be references to the Commandos teasing Steve for many stories to come ;)

Peggy for sure would have murdered Steve if he brought up the fondue lol :) I can definitely see a power like Peggy not being kept at bay by something as small as death when it comes to her best friend's happiness ;)

Peggy definitely still needed to shoot at Steve, a warning that she can and WILL go through with her promises. She has no fear :)


	10. Cutting Off the Head

Cutting Off the Head

It still took everything Olivia had not to outright grimace or gag at the sight of Schmidt's very red skull as she and Steve were brought before Schmidt in his weapons lab, held between HYDRA soldiers. They had come straight to the base camp on the back of a motorcycle that Steve drove, Olivia his passenger, his shield on her back for cover. The plan was to make a small show of 'attacking' some HYDRA agents before 'needing to surrender.' It had been her idea to use herself as 'bait' so to speak, allowing herself to get captured because it would then 'force' Steve to surrender as well and, hopefully, make it a little more believable. He had not at all been pleased with it, but her logic that she would not actually be killed was sound with what they knew of Schmidt. She doubted Schmidt's ego would allow for him to order his men to kill them instead of doing it himself. She'd been right, what felt like moments after jumping off of the motorcycle once it entered the base she was grabbed by one of the HYDRA soldiers. She'd been dragged over to where Steve had gotten caught in the middle of flame throwers, a gun held to her head which pushed Steve to 'surrender.' A small part of her was a little concerned with how Schmidt would react now that they were actually there, whether he would guess that what they were doing was a trap or a ploy, or whether he would truly think he and his soldiers were enough to apprehend them.

Judging by the way the man began laughing, it was probably the latter.

"Arrogance is clearly not a uniquely American trait, I see," he smirked as he looked between Steve and Olivia, unknowing that it would be his own arrogance that would ultimately do him in, "But I must say you do it better than anyone. But there are limits to what even the two of you can accomplish. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?"

"I'm quite sure he told both of us just how insane you are," Olivia offered.

"Ah," Schmidt didn't seem offended, "He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine. But he gave you everything," he sneered at them, "So, what made you so special?"

"Nothing," Steve remarked with a shrug, "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn and she's just a dame from London."

"Ah, yes," the man observed Olivia as he approached them, "In most cases, I would say ladies first, but, for what I have in mind, well...never let it be said that Johann Schmidt was not a gentleman."

Olivia was pulled back by the guards, or allowed herself to be pulled back by the guards, when Schmidt, without any hesitation, began to beat into Steve, landing two blows and a deft kick, driving him to his knees. Olivia had to bite her lip quite painfully to keep herself from trying to put herself in the middle of it and stop man, consciously reminding herself not to use her full strength as she struggled between the guards though let them keep their hold on her. Steve was more than capable, she had seen him fight before, if he really wanted to he could take Schmidt on easily. But that wasn't the plan, the plan was to distract Schmidt as long as possible so the Commandos could get in place. But it would certainly not be believable if she didn't make some sort of show to try and go to his aid.

Steve panted as he looked up at the man, a bit of blood dripping from the corner of his lip, "I can do this all day."

Schmidt scoffed, "Oh, of course you can. Of course," he turned and pulled out a pistol that seemed to be powered by the same glowing blue energy as the other HYDRA weapons, "I wonder how much you will want to go on when you are yet another partner down?" he hummed as he turned the pistol to aim it at Olivia, "I would have given you the same treatment, my dear," Schmidt told her with a jerking nod towards Steve, "But unfortunately I am on a tight schedule..."

"So are we!" Steve shouted, drawing Schmidt's attention back just as the windows to the room shattered, the Commandos bursting in, but unfortunately Schmidt escaped in the chaos of bullets between the Commandos and the HYDRA agents that followed.

"Rogers!" Falsworth shouted, "You might need this!" he threw Steve his shield that an agent had dropped.

"Major!" Jones swung a pack off his shoulder and tossed it to Olivia, a medpack all set to tend to any wounds she or Steve might acquire when the mission was finished.

She was to go with Steve after Schmidt, the other soldiers could handle the HYDRA agents, they had ample experience with them, but Schmidt was dangerous and neither country in the war was willing to risk him getting away. Two super soldiers would be better than one in taking on a man as deranged as Red Skull. She didn't know how much help she could be, despite the war her combat training amounted to some tips the Commandos had given her over the last year. At least, she supposed, she could be a distraction.

"Thanks!" the two super soldiers called, before turning to rush off after Schmidt, hoping they could find him in the confusion that was the base being swarmed by more Allied Forces.

They rushed down the halls after Schmidt, Steve flinging his shield to bounce off the wall and hopefully get the man as he ran around a bend, unable to help his mind drifting to that pool game he'd had with Olivia so long ago, the application of angles in combat. It certainly was something he gave a good deal of thought to since he'd taken up the shield. They sped off, thinking they might have caught him, only for another HYDRA agent to come around the bend at them with a flamethrower. Olivia reacted instantly, pushing Steve to the side into an alcove to avoid the flames, the two ducking away...when gunfire sounded. They ran out, seeing the agent taken down, Peggy and a number of other men having fired from an adjoining hallway.

Olivia let out a breath when she saw her friend, "You're late," she repeated her words back at the woman.

Peggy took a single moment to look at her friend and Steve, seeing the results of Dr. Erskin's hopes blooming in front of her, _this_ had been what it was all about. This was the man's greatest wish coming true, his work shifting the course of the war and stopping a threat to life.

"Go get him," Peggy urged, proud.

"Ma'am," Steve saluted, before turning to continue his chase, Olivia giving Peggy one very quick hug before she followed.

The shield had stuck right in the middle of two doors, holding them open. Olivia ducked under it to get to the other side before Steve yanked it free and leapt through after her, the doors shutting behind them. They raced into a hanger of sorts, but they were too late, Schmidt was already taking off in a large plane, speeding down a stretch of tarmac to gain enough lift to truly get off the ground.

Olivia looked around for anything that could help them, when the Colonel and Peggy drove up in a car, "Steve!" she shouted, grabbing his arm and rushing for the car. The two jumping into the back as the colonel floored it.

Steve looked over at Olivia as the car managed to catch up with the plane, getting them just under it as it started to lift off the ground. He reached out for her hand, squeezing it a moment and gesturing up at the plane with his other hand. She gave him a firm nod of understanding.

"Keep it steady!" Steve shouted to the colonel.

The two super soldiers took a breath, readying themselves, and jumped up, leaping for the plane and reaching the large wheels just as it escaped the hanger and began to fly up into the air.

~8~

Steve would have laughed to himself if the situation wasn't so serious. He and Olivia had had to climb their way up through the retracting wheels and into the Valkyrie, the large craft Schmidt had taken, and even with her medical pack on her back and in a uniform that was still a little too big for her, Olivia had managed to scurry up faster than he had. He was really starting to think she just might be faster than him. She reached out a hand to haul _him_ up instead. And she did it with such ease that, for a single moment, his mind wandered to just how strong the serum had made them both, if there was any difference in their strengths at all as, more than once, he had been caught off guard by how strong she was despite how she looked. But he shook the thought off, refocusing as they came face to face with a small storage hanger of what looked like bombs with their own propellers and pilot seats, all with targets written on them for different cities. Boston, New York, Chicago and more.

"I'll take the pilots," Steve murmured to her, knowing that the men manning the bombs would likely be there any moment now to deploy them, "You got the planes?"

It was a wise strategy, Olivia could agree. She had not had any real training in combat, not compared to Steve who had at least basic training and, from stories he'd told her, some boxing lessons from Bucky. Granted his experience had been pre-Phase Two and then quite hands on afterwards, but he at least had more of an idea how to fight off an attacking soldier than she did. With all the attacks on HYDRA and times she was recalled to the lines, they hadn't had much time to train together in that sense. And, with her background as a Medic and with her being a woman on top of it, combat wasn't deemed an essential part in it.

Most Medics were designated non-combatants. Their armbands were meant to be a sign to the enemy that they were NOT to be attacked offensively as they were not there to attack the enemy in the first place. And Medics were not to attack offensively either. Most were encouraged to carry at least one weapon on them, even something as simple as a pistol, but they were forbidden to fire it offensively otherwise they forfeited their protection as non-combatants. In defense of the wounded, yes of course they could fire, but the enemy would clearly be of the mind that a medic firing any weapon for any reason made them a target. Not that HYDRA held to that rule of War, but her focus had been tending the wounded and getting them stabilized and to safety, not outright combat, her country hadn't allowed her THAT close to the lines. Even Steve, a time or two, seemed to follow that mentality and try to keep her as far back from the Commandos' main attack as possible. It did make sense though, if she was their medic and one of them got hurt, they would need her alive and well enough to tend to them. If she was attacking with them and got hurt, they could lose not just their medic but anyone else that was badly injured after her. That and she knew Steve protected the people he cared about and he cared for her very much. With how worried he was for each of his men, she hadn't wanted to add the extra strain of worrying about her too. Not that it made her very happy to be kept back at all.

Here though, she had been ordered by her country to assist Captain America in taking down Schmidt, he was too great a treat to allow to escape another time. And she had been given the task of ensuring the man lived to face his crimes. She had been given the best antidote to cyanide poisoning the medical field could determine in case Schmidt tried to use one of his famous pills again. She was supposed to stop him, apprehend him, and help Steve return him to their people.

Right now though, the bombs were a great concern but Steve's plan was a good one. She could tear the plane engines out with more ease and surety than she could with facing down another soldier. It would be best to leave that to Steve, it didn't compromise either of them but played to their strengths and roles in the war just as Dr. Erskine had intended, divide and conquer. He would be drawing their attention to him, using his shield for more protection, and distracting them while she took out the planes.

"Ready?" she looked at him as he quickly glanced around, taking in the placements of the planes and the walls of the hanger.

He nodded, positioning himself in front of the only doorway into the hanger, ready for the pilots, "Go!"

She jumped over a railing and landed on the first and nearest plane, using her feet to kick the propellers in the back of it, destroying them. It wouldn't be able to fly at all without it, though she turned and pulled the small folded wings off the side of it with her bare hands too for good measure. She looked up when she heard footsteps stomping to see the pilots had arrived. But she couldn't afford to be distracted, quickly making her way to the next one, prying the windshield of the pilot's compartment open and pulling the steering stick out of it. There was a noise across the chamber and she hopped up back onto the small catwalk to see Steve had opened one of the bays for the plane, launching it prematurely without a pilot in it and letting it fall, useless, taking its pilot and another man Steve threw out of the hole after it. There was only one plane left to destroy so she jumped onto it, looking over her shoulder when she saw one of the other pilots had leapt for the plane she'd just destroyed, not seeming to have noticed she'd pulled its controls out till it was too late and Steve had reached him. Seeing he had the last man under control, she looked back at the plane she was on and did as she had to the first, kicking out the propeller and ripping the wings off.

She spun around at a sound behind her to see Steve smiling at her, holding out a hand to help her back onto the catwalk, the two of them taking off once more, managing to reach the cockpit with little trouble. They cautiously entered, the room far too calm to set them at ease. They made their way closer to the pilot's seat, passing a mechanism near it that appeared to be powered by the blue energy in the HYDRA guns.

Steve spun around quickly, hearing something, and lifted his shield as he pulled Olivia behind him, Schmidt had been hiding behind them, the plane on autopilot, and fired at them.

"You don't give up, do you?" the red skulled man glared at them.

"Nope!" Steve shouted, launching himself at the man instantly, implementing the same tactic as just before. He would handle Schmidt, giving Olivia a chance to get to the controls and try to shut down the ship.

The fight was brutal, both men dealing blow after blow, though Steve did all he could to keep Schmidt away from the front of the ship, not about to risk the man getting near Olivia as she seemed to be trying all she could to stop the ship, but it wasn't working.

"You could have the power of the gods!" Schmidt called as he fought against Steve, both men using every ounce of strength and skill they had to take the other out, "Yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations! I have seen the future, Captain! There are no flags!"

"Not my future!" Steve kicked the man away from him and flung his shield at the Nazi, calling out "Liv!" to get her away from the controls when he realized the discus was sending Schmidt flying right for the console. But just as she dove out of the way, the man stumbled and fell onto the glowing contraption only a few feet before the controls instead.

"What have you done?" the man shouted, realizing he had knocked over the power supply, breaking the compartment it was kept in. It began to pulse energy and he quickly pulled out the glowing, blue cube from within, staring at it.

Olivia stumbled back, watching in horror as the energy of the cube starting to swirl and form some sort of vortex through which space could be seen along the ceiling.

"NO!" she cried, trying to launch herself at the man when the energy surrounded him and began to pull him towards the portal, needing to stop him from escaping. He needed to answer for his crimes, but he wouldn't if he made it through the portal.

But she was held back by Steve, who had made his way over to her, grabbing her arm and watching as Schmidt wasn't quite pulled into the portal but seemed to disintegrate, the power of the cube overwhelming him. Olivia might have ended up like that too if Steve hadn't stopped her. The cube Schmidt had been holding gave one final pulse of energy before it fell to the ground, the portal disappearing. It seemed to burn even hotter as it hit the floor, melting through it and right to the bottom of the ship, falling out of it and into the sea below.

Olivia shook her head, refocusing now that the immediate threat of Schmidt and his weapon source was gone, "We need to stop the ship," she told him, "It was heading for New York but the controls were locked."

He nodded and moved to the controls, reaching out to try the radio, if they could get any help from the SSR, maybe they could break through the lock, "Come in," he called into it, "This is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?"

Morita's voice came through a moment later, "Captain Rogers, what is your…"

Before Peggy's voice cut in, "Steve, is that you? Where's Liv? Are you alright?"

"I'm here," Olivia called, moving to Steve's side so they could both speak into the device, wedging themselves between the back of the captain's seat and the controls so they could stand together as close to the comm. as possible, "We're ok. Schmidt's…" she trailed off, not sure how to describe what happened.

"Schmidt's dead," Steve reported, the man had disintegrated before their eyes, no way he survived that.

"What about the plane?" Peggy asked.

"The controls are locked," Olivia explained. She had been trying to alter them, to break into the system and alter the destination, but Schmidt had pre-programmed it and encrypted the commands, she couldn't get it off autopilot.

"Give me your coordinates, I'll find you a safe landing site."

"Peggy, you don't understand," Olivia argued gently, "We _can't_ change the destination. Whatever technology Schmidt was using, he's encrypted the commands. There's not enough time to break the code."

If she had more time, she was sure she could do it. Peggy had gotten into codebreaking due to HER, to her love of puzzles and maths and the codes they would use as children. If she had time she was sure she could break this system too. But with the speed the plane was flying and how far New York was from where they were…she wouldn't have time. The technology Schmidt had been using? They'd reach New York faster than ever.

There was no time.

"Could we try and force it down?" Steve asked her, trusting her examination of the situation, she'd had more than enough time to look at the controls while he'd been dealing with Schmidt. If they couldn't change the destination in the computers, maybe they could manually force it.

"WE might," Olivia told him quietly, looking at him meaningfully.

He took a deep breath at the implication. The controls were locked, but between their amplified strength, they might be able to override that and drive the ship into the ground. There was no way they'd be able to have any sort of smooth landing, the controls would fight them and they wouldn't be able to use enough strength and exercise enough control to maneuver them either. They wouldn't be able to turn the plane or lower it gently enough to land, but if they forced it straight down? It might work. But they wouldn't be able to let up on the controls until the ship was truly destroyed and unable to fly again.

The chances of surviving that sort of destruction…

And even if one of them tried to flee the ship, there was nowhere to land but the frigid waters below, the rate of their fall would break through the ice and they would freeze to death or the shock of the cold could kill them before any help could reach them. He could read it in Olivia's words, in her eyes, she was not going to leave him and he knew he couldn't leave her either. It was death to jump from the ship into the ice, or it was death to crash it. There was no choice, neither of them would abandon the other to die alone, they were both going to crash this ship together.

Peggy seemed to realize the same thing as she was back, calling out to them, "I'll get Howard on the line, he'll know what to do…"

Olivia looked at Steve even as she shook her head and spoke to Peggy, "We're moving too fast," she stated, "And without Schmidt here to control the landing if it reaches New York…"

It would destroy the city, Steve realized. It would plow through it at the rate it was gong, crashing into buildings, endangering innocent people, until it finally crashed and destroyed itself. And them with it.

There really was no winning here.

Either they crashed in New York and risked all those lives, or they crashed now and only ended their own.

Steve held her gaze as he returned her nod even with the regret obvious on his face, "We gotta put her in the water."

"No!" Peggy shouted, her voice starting to crack as she heard their plan, "Please, Liv, don't do this. We have time. We can work it out!"

Olivia's face scrunched at the absolute pain and fear in Peggy's voice, tears filling her own eyes as she thought about the pain she would be subjecting her best mate to if she did this. Peggy had lost her brother and now…now she might lose her sister to this war too. But…it was something they both knew was possible when they got involved in the war in general.

A commitment to war was a commitment to give anything, even your life, to see it end.

Steve reached up to touch her cheek with a gloved hand, her own coming up to press his hand more to her skin, seeing the beginnings of tears in his own eyes as he looked at HER. He had lost his best friend to this war. She was all he had left, and now they were going to lose each other.

They'd only just started and they were going to end.

But it was best to do it now, so it was just them and not all those people.

"We're in the middle of nowhere," Steve spoke, seeing that Olivia couldn't at the moment, couldn't say what they were going to do to Peggy, "If we wait any longer a lot of people are gonna die."

"I'm sorry, Peggy," Olivia managed, letting out just a single sobbing breath as she tried to keep strong, "I'm so sorry. You did this to save me and now…" she took a deep breath, "It was MY choice. It was _my choice_ to undergo Phase One. Remember that, Peg, _please_ remember that. It was MY choice. And so is this."

"Livvy, please…" Peggy was on the cusp of begging her friend not to do it.

Steve leaned in and kissed her quickly, pressing his forehead to Olivia's as the tears spilled over, the two of them closing their eyes, just taking one final moment together. He nodded against her head and pulled away, determination in his gaze as he gave her another nod, his eyes shining with emotion.

And it was like she could read exactly what he was trying to say in just his eyes.

To say goodbye, to give Peggy at least that closure, something he hadn't gotten with Bucky.

She squeezed his hand as she slowly lowered it from her face, still looking at Steve as she spoke, neither of them seeming able to look away from the other in their final moments. The two of them leaned to the side, using their other un-linked hands to push down on the controls with all their might, driving the ship down.

"Peg?" Olivia called, knowing she had to be quick now.

"I'm here," Peggy replied.

"Promise me something."

"Anything."

"Be happy. _Please_. Find a way to be happy again. Find something that makes you smile. Find someone who makes you laugh. Someone to have all those adventures we read about with. Promise me. That's all I've _ever_ wanted for you, to be _happy_."

"Liv…" Peggy's voice broke.

"If it wasn't for you, Peggy, I wouldn't have met Steve," Olivia tried to offer Steve a smile, the man struggling to return it to her, both their arms shaking with the exertion of forcing the controls down, knowing it would be easier to use their other arms but neither willing to release their grip on the other's hand, "This is me, returning the favor. Be happy Peggy, _promise me_."

"I promise."

"Goodbye, Peg."

"Goodbye, Livvy."

Olivia let go of the controls for just a moment to cut the comms., not wanting Peggy to hear what was coming next.

"I love you," Steve spoke beside her, squeezing her hand tightly.

She looked at him, "I love you too."

Olivia and Steve looked out the window, watching the icy layer of water speeding towards them and braced themselves for impact, never letting go of the other's hand even as they hit the water…

~8~

Slowly but surely, Olivia came to, her eyes fluttering open, the room hazy for just a moment before it cleared. She sat up on the bed cautiously, a frown growing on her face as she looked around, taking in the 1940s style room she was in. A moment later she gasped and turned on her side, her eyes searching for Steve and letting out a relieved breath when she saw him resting on a bed on the other side of the room.

"Steve?" she called gently, her voice hoarse.

Steve seemed to jerk awake much more quickly at the sound of her voice. He looked around, searching for her before he let out a breath of relief, "Liv," he quickly got off his bed and hurried over to her, hugging her tightly as she stood from her bed too, "Where are we?" he asked her quietly.

He pulled away to look around, a deep frown growing on his face too. Though while her attention was focused on the room itself, Steve's was drawn to a radio near the wall that was quietly broadcasting.

"Curve ball, high and outside for ball one," a sports reporter was announcing, "So the Dodgers are tied, 4-4. And the crowd well knows that with one swing of his bat, this fellow's capable of making it a brand-new game again. Just an absolutely gorgeous day here at Ebbets Field. The Phillies have managed to tie up at 4-4. But the Dodgers have three men on. Pearson beaned Reiser in Philadelphia last month. Wouldn't the youngster like a hit here to return the favor? Pete leans in. Here's the pitch. Swung on. A line to the right. And it gets past Rizzo. Three runs will score. Reiser heads to third. Durocher's going to wave him in. Here comes the relay, but they won't get him…"

"This is wrong," Steve murmured.

"Very," Olivia agreed.

They both tensed when the door to the room opened and a woman walked in.

Instantly they were both on edge, taking in the woman in question. Her hair was curled, but nowhere near a style appropriate for 1945, her shirt was of far too fine a material. Her tie was all wrong, Olivia would know, she'd spent more than enough time learning how to get hers right. And the skirt and shoes were just…wrong.

All of it was so, _so_ wrong.

"Good morning," the woman greeted, smiling at them pleasantly, before she checked her watch, "Or should I say, afternoon?"

Steve took a step forward, just slightly putting himself in front of Olivia, not trusting that the woman before them was not a threat given she was clearly a part of something trying to fool them both. Key word being 'trying,' "Where are we?"

"You're in a recovery room in New York City."

"No," Olivia shook her head, "We're not."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," the woman spoke, as though genuinely confused as to why Olivia would be so insistent that they weren't where she said they were.

"THIS is not a recovery room," Olivia explained, gesturing around, "There's no medical equipment," she pointed out, something that would most certainly have been there if it was a recovery room for someone who had experienced a trauma like they had, "We weren't attached to any monitoring devices, you left us fully clothed in non-hospital sanctioned clothing on top of the bed sheets," she noted how she was wearing a button up shirt and her brown skirt again while Steve still had his shoes on, the two of them hadn't been under the sheets but more just dumped on the beds, "And this…this is hardly sterile."

"And that," Steve nodded at the radio, noting how the woman was tensing at the things Olivia pointed out.

"The Dodgers take the lead, 8-4!" the announcer was still going on, "Oh, Dodgers! Everyone is on their feet. What a game we have here today, folks. What a game indeed."

"The game, it's from May, _1941_ ," Steve stated, last he recalled it had been _1945_ not 1941, but what's more, "I know, cause I was _there_ ," he took a careful step towards the woman, "Now, I'm gonna ask you again. Where are we?"

"Captain Rogers…" the woman began.

"What are you doing?" Olivia called, seeing the woman pushing a button of something in her other hand.

"Who are you?" Steve demanded, when two soldiers in black uniforms burst into the room. Steve leapt into action, quickly knocking the two through a wall and jumping through it after them, Olivia quick behind.

It didn't take much to work out they had been brought to some sort of set, some stage that had been set up to make them think they were in a hospital shortly after they had gone into the ice.

"This way!" Olivia shouted, grabbing Steve's hand and leading him to a set of doors.

"Major Williams stop!" the woman called from behind them.

Olivia didn't pause to wonder how these people knew who they were, for all they knew it could be an elaborate trap by what was left of HYDRA, some sort of twisted revenge for stopping Schmidt.

They ran through the doors and into a hall filled with people dressed in black just wandering about, when the woman's voice came over the comms., calling something about a Code 13. Instantly all the people in black turned on them and ran for them. So they raced for the sunlight they could see through a set of glass doors, bursting out and onto the street, running down it only to nearly stopped dead.

It was New York, Steve would recognize it anywhere…but it was NOT the New York he remembered. It was too high-tech, too large, too crowded, with people walking around in odd clothing and carrying strange devices. Even Olivia, who was not a native New Yorker, could tell this was not the world they had come from.

In the middle of their shock, a number of black vehicles swarmed them and surrounded them, trapping them in a circle.

A moment later a tall black man with an eye patch and dressed all in black stepped out of one, approaching them cautiously, "At ease, soldiers!" he called out, "Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but…we thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"Break what?" Olivia turned to them, Steve turning with her so that she was standing in front of him but a bit to the side, her back to his chest.

"You've been asleep," the man told them, "For almost seventy years."

"Seventy…" Olivia blinked rapidly at that, "What…what year _is_ this?"

"2011," the man eyed them, seeing the girl was in a state of shock, though Steve just appeared lost, "You gonna be ok?"

"Um…" Steve shook his head, trying to get his bearings, "Yeah. Yeah. I just…" he could only keep shaking his head, not sure how to put words to what he was feeling.

"2011," Olivia repeated, her mind racing, "February…1945…" she stepped away from Steve, more like stumbled, "66 years…1921…oh…"

"Liv?" Steve moved to her side as she stumbled again, the woman starting to pant, tears in her eyes, "Liv."

"90 years…" Olivia murmured, a terrible realization dawning on her, making her feel like all the breath had been stolen from her. It reminded her, for a moment, of that terrible time when she had been a child and running about with Peggy only to collapse when she couldn't get enough air. And all that served to do was make it harder to breathe with the reminder of Peggy.

"Liv," Steve quickly reached out to pull her closer, seeing the start of an attack of some sort taking hold, feeling her trembling in his arms, "What's wrong?"

Olivia shook her head, "Peggy…" was all she could get out, "66 years."

Peggy would be 90 years old. Peggy would have had to go decades without her friend, decades thinking she was dead. Peggy would be an old woman while SHE still looked like the 23 year old she had been when she went into the ice.

She had missed decades of her best mate's life. She hadn't been there. She had thought, going into the ice, that she would die in the crash. She honestly wished she had, to come back now and realize she'd missed so much. She and Peggy had always promised to be there for each other, it was one thing to think that she had been unable to due to Death, that she'd died for a good cause. She'd hoped Peggy would be proud of her.

But now she was back, and it was all hitting her that Peggy, her best friend, might not even be alive, but she had JUST been talking to her, only moments ago...this...this couldn't be...this wasn't happening...it couldn't be 66 years!

"Steve…" she reached out to him, looking up at him with tears falling from her eyes, "I can't breathe…"

Steve pulled her closer, winding one arm around her waist and burying the other into her hair to cradle her more to him, "It's alright," he whispered to her, not even noticing the agents surrounding him or people stopping to stare, too focused on Olivia needing him right now. He'd experienced attacks like this before, he wasn't going to let her go through it alone. He moved his head so his mouth was by her ear, "Breathe with me," he began to murmur to her, taking more exaggerated breaths so she could feel it and match with him.

He needed to give her something else to focus on until the attack passed. He needed to make sure that she was getting enough air and getting her breathing under control first.

It took a minute or two of him whispering to her, comforting her and encouraging her before she was able to breathe without staggered inhales or too fast exhales.

He felt her press her face into his chest a moment later, turning her head so her ear was resting over his heart, something he could remember doing when he was small and his mother would help him through his own attacks. Something to ground you. But almost instantly the sobs began as Olivia's knees gave out and he sank to the ground with her, holding her close.

He could feel tears in his own eyes not just at the sound of her breaking but as the full magnitude of everything that had happened hit him. It wasn't just Peggy, he knew, it was what Peggy represented and what she was a reminder of, it was hitting him too. Everything they had ever known, all the people they worked beside, the homes they'd had, the places they used to live and frequent, their entire world...gone.

Let the agents stare, let them think what they wanted about seeing Captain America and Major Britannia breaking down.

They had lost everything except each other in an instant.

To be continued...in...United We Stand!

A/N: I felt like that was an appropriate title for the Avengers assembling, they really had to learn how to stand together in order to stop the enemy :) I know there was an after credit scene involving Steve and Fury meant to lead into the Avengers, but since the Avengers movie expanded on that scene, I thought it best to leave it for that story ;) I know there's some debate about when Steve woke up in 2011, whether it was June-ish or October-ish, but it looked like a somewhat rainy day in New York in the movie and people were wearing light jackets, so I feel like it's more nearer the end of 2011, but it also didn't give off a very 'fall' vibe to me so I'm going to shoot for September :) I also felt like, with how much time Olivia's spent in hospitals, as a patient and studying to be a medic, she would certainly have noticed it wasn't the right structure/room they woke up in. No medical equipment? After the fall they took and trauma their bodies endured? :)

Tiny little change to the movie in this chapter. Schmidt manually put autopilot on about halfway through his fight with Steve and that made no sense to me, like wouldn't he have had autopilot on already because the plane was flying and he was not piloting it? And if it was a result of when Steve and Schmidt hit the controls, well Olivia was there so Steve was more keen to keep the man away from it and they never hit the controls so autopilot would have still been on ;) Also with the mini-bombs, with another person there to help disable them, I couldn't see the whole mid-air fight going on, not that it wasn't awesome in the movie, but Olivia was able to take them down while Steve handled the pilots.

And speaking of that, I know Olivia hasn't exactly had much physical action in terms of fighting. In such a strict 'war' setting and given the mentality of medics at the time as well as the limitations on women even in the army, from what I understand, it would have been very clear cut that she was a non-combatant and not allowed to attack the enemy offensively because her duty was to help the wounded, nor would she have been allowed THAT close to the front lines to even have the chance to attack or need to defend herself. We're going to see it slowly change in the next few stories. Without a real 'war' going on but just fighting/battles, Olivia is going to be able to take more of an offensive role, but how far she'll take that and what her own morals/beliefs are about it, we'll have to wait and see ;)

But as for this story, I'm so sad it's over :'( I really wanted to end it on that last scene/note because I felt like it paralleled the start of the story nicely. We open with a little girl who has some sort of health attack, can't breathe, and has a friend there who doesn't know what's going on and can't really help. Here we have her grown up, healthy, and she still has a similar attack, though caused by a different situation, but has a (more than) friend there who DOES know what's going on and can help. I wanted to show that, even with the serum improving them, we saw how Steve can still be harmed/bleed, I wanted to show that they are still susceptible to internal vulnerabilities too. They can still be overwhelmed at times, they can still be vulnerable, but they have each other to help them out :') Steve's train of thoughts, once things process, is more thinking about everything they've now lost due to time, but it's Olivia and her thoughts on Peggy that sort of trigger it. She was JUST talking to her best friend and within the blink of an eye, not only might her friend be dead, but she's missed YEARS of her life and caused her enormous pain by being 'dead' when she wasn't :'(

Going forward, we'll be getting the next Thor/Athena story, Cunning, in about a week (hopefully not longer than that), which will be a revision of Infinity War with Athena. After that is posted, we'll be moving into the Avengers with Olivia :) Now, keep in mind, this series is going to follow the MOVIE the story is based on, so the next Olivia story will be found in the AVENGERS category, NOT Captain America. But we have a little more than 3 weeks to go before we get there though ;)

Also, I'll be taking suggestions for the pairing name until the next Olivia story, so thank you all to the names suggested so far! I'll be adding any suggestions to a list to have ready for the Avengers :)

Timeline for this chapter:  
Steve and Olivia go after Schmidt - February 5th 1945  
Steve and Olivia wake up in 2011 - September-ish 2011.

And, just to end...I really have to say thank you guys SO much! Really, I give each and every reader/reviewer/favoriter/follower/ko-fi giver/anythinger a virtual hug because you guys are amazing :) I write for all of you guys and I'm just so touched that you all liked the story and am truly thankful that you're enjoying Olivia :) I'll do my very best to keep it up in the future, because you guys most definitely deserve it. I love you all :')

Some notes on reviews...

Very true, I don't think there's any end to what the Serum could do for the two super soldiers, in this case, she did end up frozen with him. By trying to team up to handle Schmidt, and eventually dividing and conquering with Steve handling him while Olivia took the controls, there was no way for her to get off the ship and, to her mind, survive. There was always a chance, due to the serum, she or Steve could have survived the jump from the ship and into the waters, but there was also every chance that the shock would have killed them or the cold kill them if they escaped the water :( But, again, that was as far as they knew, they hadn't exactly tested what they could survive in terms of extremes so they both very much thought they'd die either way so it was better to go together :'(

I did consider a Peggy/OC at one point, but when I read that Peggy did end up married and the significance of Steve's efforts as Captain America having saved her future-husband's life, I felt like the potential OC just sort of fizzled away to wait for a different story lol :)

Do not EVER apologize for singing Greatest Showman! My mom and I saw it on Christmas and we have the soundtrack and I think I listen to "Come Alive" literally every time I get in my car :) As for Bucky, oh yes :D I'm actually really excited to get to his OC, she sort of is going to blend two worlds together and give us a sort of background to some events that we didn't get to see on screen :)


End file.
